00:00Now let's bring in Stephen Miller, Deputy Director of Macroeconomic Modeling and Forecasting at the National Institute of Economic and
00:07Social Research.
00:08Stephen, thanks for your time. So let's take a look at those numbers.
00:12The UK estimating a $1.5 billion hit for one week in June. Where do we see those big losses
00:18coming in?
00:20Well, the first thing is there are a lot of people who don't make it into work because it is
00:25too hot for them.
00:26There are people who have bad health as a result of the heat. That's an economic loss.
00:33And then even for those people who are working, because it's so hot and they've had less sleep because it's
00:38so hot,
00:39they're not working as productively as they would be in normal circumstances.
00:43So we've also heard about losses for agriculture, not only in Europe, but also in the UK.
00:50Do you think we should be bracing as consumers for higher food prices?
00:55Well, we are going to see higher food prices as a result of the heat wave, but also because of
00:59the result of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz,
01:02the effect that has on fertilizer, yet to be seen in food prices.
01:07So food prices are definitely going up. The question is by how much.
01:09I think it's not going to be dramatic, but we are going to notice it.
01:13Now, Stephen, what would you say to UK and European governments and businesses?
01:19What should they be prioritizing now to try to reduce these costs in the future?
01:25Well, I think on the business side, it's all about the installation of air conditioning and making their office environments,
01:33better places for their staff to work from the point of the government.
01:37I think the key thing, particularly in the UK, is to upgrade transport infrastructure to be able to cope with
01:42the heat
01:42and also better urban planning, so planting more trees, more park space.
01:48And I note there that Sadiq Khan came up with a plan for London around these sorts of lines about
01:55a month or so ago.
01:57Great. Stephen Miller, thank you so much for your time. Sally, back to you.
01:59Thank you so much, Catherine Drew.
Comments