00:01Russia's invasion of Ukraine, how do you think the government can get a grip of that now?
00:06Well it's very difficult because they put the economy in a very difficult position where it's already under a lot
00:12of strain.
00:13So if you have low growth, if you have a high level of debt, high debt servicing costs, high unemployment,
00:19the highest in about 10 years, and high and sticky inflation,
00:23then you're not in a good position to start doing some of the things you might otherwise be able to
00:28do to take off the pressure.
00:29Just as we did, for example, back at the time of the Ukraine-Russia war,
00:33when you had a very high inflationary environment and were able to step in with furlough and other measures
00:39and cost-of-living support to try and make it easier for families.
00:43But when you get up to the level of indebtedness that this government's now in, your room for manoeuvre is
00:47very restricted.
00:48So what you're saying is it's looking pretty gloomy for consumers.
00:52It's looking very tough and there could be a lot more pressure on the public finances
00:56and we are in a precarious position.
00:59And certainly if the anemic growth that the government is saying we're going to have over the rest of this
01:04parliament
01:04turns into being completely non-existent or worse,
01:08then I think we're going to have some very bumpy times ahead, unfortunately.
01:11And it's all about failing to get the economy into a resilient position in the first place.
01:16So I'm going to have to come up with the Oscars.
