Bank needs to ‘see the job through’ on inflation, says Pill – but divisions remain April 4, 2023 The chief economist at the Bank of England, Huw Pill, has suggested that more work is needed to tame price rises because there is a danger of high inflation becoming embedded in the UK economy. “The onus remains on ensuring enough monetary tightening is delivered to ‘see the job through’ and sustainably return inflation to [...]
Let’s face it: Profiteering is feeding the inflation beast, not just pay rises April 4, 2023 Inflation is a pernicious beast that is plainly bad for people and businesses. It can ease governments’ debt burdens by (artificially) boosting tax revenues, but that can lead to severe bouts of price rises that, often, lead to societal decay. So it’s easy to see why policymakers in the UK are sweating over the rate [...]
Speedy rate hikes could knock shaky UK economy, former BoE chief economist warns April 2, 2023 Former chief economist of the Bank of England Andy Haldane has cautioned his old colleagues against raising rates too fast, warning it might unsettle an economy that is on “unsteady legs”. “I think given the extent of tightening we had during the course of last year, and the early part of this, and given the [...]
Recession? Five graphs that show where the UK economy is and where it is heading March 31, 2023 Are we in a recession? Aren’t we in a recession? Are we headed into a recession? At this point, who knows. At the start of the year, everyone said “yes definitely, and a bad one”. Now, those projections look a bit overcooked. Essentially, it’s on a knife edge. Morning Wire takes a look at the [...]
Andrew Bailey: Our banks are sound – we’ll keep hiking if inflation persists March 27, 2023 The Bank of England will be forced to jack up interest rates again if incoming data shows inflation is not falling fast enough in response to the central bank’s eleven straight rate rises, Governor Andrew Bailey said today. Further pain will be needed to be borne by families and businesses if price pressures keep pinning [...]
Belvoir weathered mini budget interest rate storm with small dip in profit March 27, 2023 Belvoir reported a small dip in pre-tax profit this morning as its chief cited a “general pressure on interest rates” from the mini-budget for its results. For the year, the London-listed property firm reported pre-tax profits dip two per cent to £9.1m from £9.3m, saying the budget from Liz Truss shook the market. The Lincolnshire headquartered [...]
UK recession still on the cards after aggressive Bank of England interest rate hikes March 27, 2023 A recession is still on the cards in the UK despite the economy performing much better than experts predicted just a few months ago, new forecasts out today project. Higher interest rates and households responding to the cost of living crunch gripping their finances by trimming spending is tipped to push GDP 0.3 per cent [...]
UK household debt swells past £2 trillion for first time ever March 27, 2023 Family debt has swelled past £2 trillion for the first time ever in a sign Brits are whipping out their credit cards to fund spending amid the cost of living crunch, new research out today reveals. Household debt is now nearly the same size as the entire UK economy (£2.2 trillion) and has been pushed [...]
UK suffering worst living standards squeeze on record, OBR boss warns March 26, 2023 Brits’ spending power won’t recover to pre-pandemic levels for another half decade, the boss of the UK’s economic watchdog has warned. The UK is experiencing the “biggest squeeze on living standards we’ve faced in this country on record”, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chairman Richard Hughes said today. His stark warning came after the regulator’s [...]
Families grow increasingly confident about UK dodging recession March 24, 2023 Families are increasingly confident the UK will dodge a recession this year in another sign the economy is performing better than feared than at the turn of the year, a closely watched survey out today indicates. UK consumer confidence jumped in March for the second month in a row, albeit up to a historically low [...]