Addressing current affairs on the Leaders Council Podcast, Richard Smith, joint owner and managing director of leading property developer Opus Land Ltd, shared his view that it is time to begin treating Covid-19 as an endemic and that rampant inflation cannot be sustained in the long-term.
In a candid interview with podcast host, Scott Challinor, Smith told of how the few social restrictions still in place continue to cause disruption to his business, and that he felt it was time to measure the impact of disruption against the risk to life posed by the now dominant Omicron variant.
Smith said: “Our business, fortunately, continues to thrive, but we still have to cope with Covid. Coping with Covid means that we constantly have people isolating, be they contractors, teams or professionals.
“I think we have got to a point now where we have to live with Covid because the damage now is not coming in the form of deaths. More evidence is emerging that the current strain of Covid [Omicron] is not killing healthy people, and we should remember that even a cold can kill a vulnerable person. I think we have really got to start treating it as an endemic, not with the status that it currently has, and get on with life. I just don’t see how we can carry on as we are.”
Recently, the International Monetary Fund has been forced to downgrade its growth projections for the global economy as rising energy prices and supply chain disruption drive inflation up. Referencing these issues in the global economy, Smith told of how the impact was being acutely felt in the construction and property sectors and that eventually a point would be reached where it could no longer be sustainable.
“We are dealing with rising rents and rising prices, certainly on sheds, warehouses and industrial buildings. Again, there must be a stop to that eventually because it can only go so far.
“We have also seen massive increases in our construction costs and our material costs as well, and as a country we are facing pretty rampant inflation to be honest with you. That cannot be sustained in the long term.
“Material shortages are a massive problem. Not just in our industry but in everything. Right across the manufacturing sector it is being seen.”
Listen to the full interview with Richard Smith below.
Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash
