GP Soft's thoughts on the credit crunch and how it will effect EFL

Difficult times loom for the UK economy. Every week we see a new article in our national newspapers stating the worse figures in the housing market since 1992. It is becoming increasingly obvious we are all heading for a recession.

• House Prices are falling on average at 1-2% per month
• We have "stagflation", inflation is still rising no matter what the Bank of England does with Interest rates
• Oil prices are fueling inflation, this leads to rising food prices and large gas and electric bills
• Petrol prices are topping £1.20 per litre in Central London

However it is not all doom and gloom for the EFL market. On the positive side there are several ways the EFL market can still prosper in an economy under threat from recession.

• Wage costs should remain static as people fear the loss of jobs. Staff will stay loyal to the company.
• The strong Euro means EU students should increase over the last year
• Although many core products are suffering from inflation, now might be the best time to invest in new technology. Hardware and Software has never been cheaper. Software companies like GP Soft are largely unaffected by high fuel prices and other such commodities which results in static prices.

GP Soft expects a good year for EFL, and we see this as an excellent opportunity for schools to invest in software and hardware, and to attract new customers by improving their websites.