Spain’s finance minister has insisted that the country will not follow Greece and Ireland and seek a bailout. In a newspaper interview published today, Elena Salgado said: “Our fiscal adjustment is on track… we have done all the things that we had to do with our financial sector.” She added that Spain is “absolutely not” [...]
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has revised its forecast for UK economic growth, in light of austerity measures, the euro zone debt crisis, the VAT hike and the weak housing market. Many experts and business organisations have said the tough austerity measures, introduced by the Government to trim the deficit, will undoubtedly hit growth. [...]
Eurostat has today revealed a rise in euro zone retail sales for the month of October, after two months of declines. Retail sales grew 0.5% in October on the month and were 1.8% higher on an annual basis, according to the European statistics office. The increase also beat analysts’ expectations of a 0.2% rise. Europe’s [...]
Speculation has been mounting that Portugal is under pressure to seek a bailout from the EU rescue fund – however, the country continues to strongly deny the claims. European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, has today also denied reports that the country is looking for a financial rescue package. Mr Barroso said the reports were [...]
Portugal came to a standstill today after its biggest strike in more than 20 years as workers protested against the Government’s austerity measures. The Government has introduced massive spending cuts and tax hikes, which are currently being pushed through parliament. They are aimed at bringing the budget deficit down to 4.6% next year, from the [...]
Ireland’s Government has today, as expected, outlined its four-year austerity plan, in a move designed to bring down the country’s ballooning budget deficit. Ireland is aiming to save €15 billion (£13 billion) between 2011 and the end of 2014 – 11% of the economy‘s annual output. The measures include a reduction in the minimum wage [...]
Once again, fears for Portugal and Spain are raised as borrowing costs surge to high levels as Ireland’s debt crisis looks set to spread. Yields on 10-year Portuguese bonds rose to 6.9% – mimicking what happened in Greece and Ireland – just before they were forced to seek emergency aid. Meanwhile, 10-year Spanish bonds surged [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today announced that Greece has met the conditions of its loan and will therefore receive the third instalment of its bailout loan. In May, the EU and the IMF agreed to loan €110 billion. The three-year rescue deal comprises €80 billion from the EU, with the rest coming from [...]
Ireland’s Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, announced last night that his Government has made a formal request for an emergency bailout. In the euro zone’s second emergency rescue this year, Ireland will receive between €80 and €90 billion but the country’s finance minister, Brian Lenihan, said a precise figure has not been determined. The loan will [...]
Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, has today said the country is preparing to make a formal request for an emergency bailout. The exact amount of the loan, which will come from the EU rescue fund, which was established by European Governments and the International Monetary Fund after the Greek debt crisis earlier this year, was [...]
Influential think tank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has today revised its growth for the UK economy, as a result of the Coalition Government’s austerity measures, designed to bring down the budget deficit. However, the revision comes as no surprise as experts have been predicting that the harsh spending cuts will undoubtedly [...]
The European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, has today said Greece’s budget deficit reached a revised 15.4% of annual economic output last year – higher than the 13.6% reported in April. The revised figure, which is almost two percentage points more than originally forecast, now makes it the largest deficit in the euro zone – even [...]
The European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, has today revealed growth in the 16 countries that use the euro slowed in the third quarter. According to Eurostat, the euro zone grew 0.4% in the July to September period, compared with 1% in the second quarter. On an annual basis, growth was recorded at 1.9%. It follows [...]
Ireland is the latest in a long line of nations forced to introduce tough austerity measures to deal with its spiralling budget deficit. The country’s Government has outlined €15 billion (£13.1 billion) worth of budget cuts and is aiming to shave the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014 to keep within euro zone rules. [...]
The European Central Bank (ECB) today elected to keep interest rates on hold at the historic low of 1% – where they have been since May 2009. Interest rates are expected to remain on hold until at least 2011, as a result of uneven growth and low inflation. The news comes after the Bank of [...]
Ireland received yet another blow today after credit agency Fitch cut the country’s debt rating to A+ from AA- with a negative outlook. Fitch said the downgrade was due to massive banking bailouts, which have drained the economy, as well as uncertainty surrounding the fragile recovery. Fitch also cut the short-term foreign currency issuer default [...]
Credit rating agency, Moody’s, today warned it may downgrade Ireland’s credit rating again, due to its ailing banking system. In addition, the agency said weak economic growth and rising borrowing costs could lead to the further cut. In July, Moody’s cut Ireland’s sovereign bond rating to Aa2 from Aa1. Other agencies, Standard & Poor’s and [...]
Nobel prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz, has expressed his concern for the euro and the euro zone’s fragile recovery. Sixty-seven-year-old Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World Bank, warned that the future of the single currency is bleak, while the region’s recovery is threatened by a series of austerity measures, which have been introduced by [...]
Credit rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Spain’s credit rating today – just a day after unions held a general strike to protest against tough austerity measures. Like many other euro zone nations, Spain has introduced austerity measures, aimed at cutting its budget deficit, which is currently 11% of GDP. Spain aims to reduce the deficit [...]
Romania’s President, Traian Basescu, has today said its entry date for the euro zone may be delayed as it introduces tough austerity measures in order to avoid a Greek-style debt crisis. The country’s current target date for euro zone entry is 1 January 2015 but Mr Basescu said this could be postponed by “one or [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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