Home Safe Sales Soar As Trust In Banks Collapses

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Financial crisis: Home safe sales soar as trust in banks collapses
Worried savers are taking their cash out of banks and investing in home safes in an attempt to beat the current banking crisis.

Sales of household safes have soared as the ongoing economic downturn has seen the markets collapse and banks pushed into hasty mergers.

Russ Reader, managing director of Leigh Safes said: "It's simple, if there is a lack of confidence in banks buy safes and put the contents on their home insurance.

"We've seen a 25 per cent increase in sales and inquiries over the last four weeks, in particular for higher-grade safes that insurance companies approve for larger sums."

Safe companies claims sales began to rise following the troubles with Northern and Rock and increased again following the Bradford and Bingle
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Slower economic growth for Mexico

A weaker American economy weighs on growth in Mexico

Few Latin American countries are as dependent on US demand as Mexico, which sells 80% of its exports to that market and some of whose industries are closely linked to those north of the border. As a result, the weaker US economy is also dragging down Mexico’s growth rate, although the extent to which it is impacted is less now than during past US recessions.

Mexico’s finance secretariat this month cut its estimate for GDP growth this year to 2.4%, down from 2.8% (which itself was a reduction from an earlier forecast of 3.7%). It cited reduced import demand in the US as the key factor. Under its 2009 budget proposal, the secretariat projects growth in 2009 of 3% (cut from 4%). Officials optimistically expect global conditions to improve next year, although they foresee a decline in output from Mexico’s critical oil sector. (They project a drop in production of 3.8%, and a fall in exports of 8.6%.) ...

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[Source: The Economist: News analysis