Prince William marriage: Royal wedding likely to be burdensome for British economy

LONDON: The fairytale wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton might well result in a huge financial burden on the sluggish British economy , with costs estimated to be billions of pounds.
Going by estimates from various agencies as reported by the media here, the wedding could cost the public exchequer at least five billions pounds, even though a large section believes the event would boost various sectors such as tourism and retail.
With hundreds of millions of dollars alone spend on security arrangements -- with thousands of security officials on duty -- the wedding would turn out to be expensive for the fragile British economy.
The wedding-- also a national holiday in Britain -- that saw the presence of some 1,900 guests, also resulted in huge expenses related to the dress and feast, among others.
A recent study by accounting and business advisory firm RSM Tenon said British businesses could lose up to 30 billion pounds (about USD 50 billion) due to long holidays that includes the one for today's royal wedding .
"The double whammy of bank holidays around Easter and the royal weddings means that there are effectively only 18 working days in April -- a fact likely to take many businesses by surprise," the entity had said.
The British economy, one of the worst hit by the 2008 financial meltdown, is yet to peak, with continuing signs of slow growth. The national GDP rose just 0.5 per cent in the 2011 first quarter after contracting 0.5 per cent in the last three months of 2010.