As president of the Connecticut Community Bankers Association, I’m often asked about my prognosis for our economy. My personal forecast: partly to mostly sunny — with a chance of rain.
As president of the Connecticut Community Bankers Association, I’m often asked about my prognosis for our economy. My personal forecast: partly to mostly sunny — with a chance of rain.
I’ve personally seen a slow and steady level of recovery, although certainly not as robust as in the past. Locally, we’ve seen large-scale project build outs like the mammoth Amazon distribution center in Windsor — over 1 million square feet — that have, or will, add up to 500 incremental jobs.
We’ve also seen an increased number of commercial properties changing hands, a marked pick up of business in the manufacturing space, and a substantial increase in our commercial-lending portfolio.
Nationally, there are regulatory changes pending that should positively impact community banks. These revisions, although not a certainty, will allow bankers to be more responsive and efficient and better focus on meeting the varying needs of their communities. One caveat is appropriate: As our state legislators work to close our budget gap, it is critically important that they not enact legislation that will adversely affect the business community. We simply cannot afford to have businesses leave our state due to regulatory or taxation overreach.
Our economy is highly dependent upon the complementary goods and services that are provided to our business communities, so losses of any kind will have a ripple effect with long-lasting consequences.
[See what others are saying on HBJ's Economic Forecast 2016 page]
