Why politics matters for business

Many businesses spend a lot of their time wishing that politicians would butt out of their lives. Taxes and regulations are, after all, a headache and get in the way of the money-making part of your work. However, no matter how hard you might wish, politicians are here to stay.

What they say and do isn’t just white noise to feed the 24/7 news cycle either, politics can have a big impact on your business.

Don’t believe that’s true? Consider this interactive guide from DailyFX, which has taken key moments from the last year for six key world leaders – Theresa May, Donald Trump, Jean-Claude Juncker, Shinzo Abe, Malcolm Turnbull and Justin Trudeau – and shows what happened to the currency market on the days those moments occurred.

Not every high profile event causes price movement, but the project demonstrates the power of what politicians say and do from a currency perspective.

Clearly, too, it matters a lot if a currency goes up or down. It can certainly make life more or less expensive for importers or exporters. Fine margins aren’t so fine when you’re at the sharp end as a business. Exporting is, after all, one of the key policy focuses for the Federation of Small Business and bodies such as this play a key role in helping to ensure the voice of the business community is heard and that politicians can represent them effectively.

Projects such as this show why businesses have to take a proactive interest in politics. It pays – quite literally – to be up to speed on the latest events so that you aren’t taken by surprise – especially in turbulent times –  and it’s also important to make your voice heard to help make a difference when it comes to policies and pronouncements that would make life harder for you.

You don’t have to learn to love politicians as a business, but you do have to learn to live with them.