New UK Chancellor Hammond says Brexit vote had 'chilling effect' on mkts

The UK vote to leave the European Union had a “chilling effect” on financial markets, said new UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.

In an interview with the BBC, Hammond (pictured) said the decision had caused companies to put investment plans on hold and the challenge was to send "signals of reassurance" to kick-start investment and spending decisions.

"My initial judgement is that the immediate impact on the economy has come from business pausing decisions that they otherwise would have taken, investment decisions.”

"We've seen an effect in markets, we've seen business investment decisions being paused because businesses now want to take stock, want to understand how we will take forward our renegotiations with the European Union, what our aspirations are for the future trading relationship between Britain and the European Union,” Hammond said a day after new Prime Minister Theresa May sacked George Osborne from the Treasury.

"But what we've done over the last couple of weeks is move with significant speed to put in place a new government, which can start to deliver that certainty about the future."

The former Foreign Secretary said he would be meeting Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and other experts and leading players in the economy today "to take stock", adding that he thought Carney was doing “an excellent job”.
He added he did not anticipate the need for an emergency Budget as a result of the Brexit vote.