Consumer spending is up but caution appears to be growing March 13, 2017 Consumer spending for February was up 1.5 per cent on the same time last year, according to the monthly Visa UK Consumer Spending Index. This marks a jump back up from a five-month low of just 0.4 per cent year-on-year growth in January. Trends from previous months held fast, with yet another rise for e-commerce [...]
The man leading a major review of workers rights thinks National Insurance rise is progressive March 12, 2017 The man put in charge of a major review into workers rights and the rise of the gig economy has called the chancellor's election pledge-breaking rise in National Insurance for the self-employed "progressive" and "economically rational". "As tax rises go, this is broadly progressive," said Matthew Taylor, the head of the Royal Society of Arts [...]
Iceland defrosts the capital controls it put in place because of the 2008 financial crisis March 12, 2017 The Icelandic government announced today it will be completely lifting on Tuesday the capital controls it put in place against country's individuals, firms, and pension funds to keep it propped during the fallout of the financial crisis. The government and Central Bank of Iceland have been over the last year whittling down the controls, which were put [...]
Niesr: UK GDP grew by 0.6 per cent in the three months to the end of February March 10, 2017 The UK economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the three months to the end of February, according to the latest estimates from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr). This follows GDP growth of 0.8 per cent in the three months ending in January. Niesr has projected GDP growth of two per cent [...]
UK trade deficit holds steady for January as both exports and imports rise March 10, 2017 The UK’s trade deficit remained broadly flat at £2bn in January as both export and import values rose, by 0.8 and 0.6 per cent respectively. The deficit narrowed by £4.7bn to £6.4bn between the three months to January, and three months to October, though total trade balance had been revised upwards by £3.5bn after the ONS' fourth [...]
Inflation expectations hit highest levels since 2013, Bank of England survey finds March 10, 2017 Britons are anticipating big price rises over the coming year, new data from the Bank of England out today shows. Members of the public quizzed in February expect inflation to rise 2.9 per cent over the next year, up from a 2.8 per cent estimate in the Bank’s previous survey in November. The 2.9 per [...]
Prioritise Commonwealth trade post Brexit: It’s what UK businesses want March 10, 2017 The UK’s vote to leave the EU presents British businesses, large and small, with significant export opportunities with the rest of the world – and in particular with Commonwealth countries. In fact, UK businesses are calling for much closer ties and the government must listen. Polling commissioned by The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and PLMR [...]
With RICS finding the housing market subdued, should we brace for falling house prices? March 10, 2017 Kay Neufeld, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), says Yes. With infallible regularity, every year a number of property market analysts predict that “this year prices surely must fall”. Most of the time, they are wrong. Looking at market fundamentals, not much has changed in 2017. The demand for housing [...]
Editor’s notes: Hammond falls down the cracks between politics and policy, the bigger threats to the media than Rupert Murdoch and why the UK needs a new army of trade negotiators March 10, 2017 There are plenty of people willing to defend the chancellor’s controversial raid on the self-employed, not least the chancellor himself who was out and about yesterday claiming that the government faced “some new challenges” and that it has “to pay for these things somehow”. As opposition to the move grows on his own backbenches, he [...]
Mario Draghi says Brexit has had no economic impact as the European Central Bank (ECB) holds interest rates steady March 9, 2017 European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said Brexit has so far not had a significant economic impact. Draghi said: "We haven't seen yet a consequence" or a "significant economic impact" from Brexit, despite the ECB's expectations. He also painted a more positive picture of the Eurozone economy as the bank held monetary policy steady, [...]