The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has cut its global growth forecast for next year to 3.4 per cent and has warned that the UK will follow Europe into recession. The organisation also predicts that unemployment in the UK will reach 9.1 per cent by 2013. Yesterday the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, [...]
In its latest quarterly inflation report the Bank of England warns that the UK’s economic outlook has worsened. It suggests that the economy could stagnate until the middle of next year, with growth predictions for 2011 and 2012 cut to around 1 per cent, compared with its August forecast of 1.7 per cent growth in [...]
Inflation fell to 5 per cent in October helped by a price war between major supermarkets, with food and petrol prices being slashed as they competed with each other. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a 5 per rise in the consumer-price index in the 12 months to October, compared with [...]
Jobseekers in the UK have a rocky time ahead of them, with businesses expected to put expansion and recruitment plans on hold for the foreseeable future, according to new research. The latest quarterly survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warns that the UK jobs market is facing a “slow, painful contraction”. The [...]
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has today delivered its forecasts for British public borrowing, economic growth, inflation and unemployment. The independent OBR, which was set up by the coalition Government to assess the state of public finances, lowered its 2011 economic growth forecast to 1.7% from its previous estimate of 2.1%. The latest estimate [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his Budget speech today, what he has described as a “Budget for growth”. Firstly, Mr Osborne unveiled a scheme aimed at helping 10,000 first-time buyers purchase new-build flats and houses. The buyer would have to fund 5% of the cost, while the Government and home builder would both put up [...]
Addressing the Treasury Select Committee today, Chancellor George Osborne suggested the Bank of England could resume its quantitative easing (QE) scheme next year if economic growth slows. There has been suggestions that economic growth will be severely hampered because of the Government’s massive spending cuts - many have even said a double-dip recession is likely. [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today warned that economic growth will be hit due to deep spending cuts. Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economic counsellor, said massive spending cuts may have to be revisited if growth in the UK is hampered. However, Mr Blanchard did highlight that his comments applied to all advanced economies, [...]
City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has today announced banks will face stricter stress testing to ensure they can survive a further 4 years of falling economic growth and a 13.3% unemployment rate. Stress tests were introduced following the financial crisis to ensure that banks had sufficient capital to allow them to continue operating [...]
The Commerce Department today revealed that the world’s no.1 economy grew at a faster rate in the fourth quarter than previous estimates showed. According to official figures, the US economy grew by an annual 5.9% between the October and December period, rather than the 5.7% previously estimated. For the whole of 2009, GDP declined at [...]
Positive economic news just keeps on coming from the world’s third largest economy after the purchasing managers index (PMI) from HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics revealed that Chinese manufacturing grew by the biggest margin in five years last month. The index, which is based on a survey of more than 400 Chinese manufacturers, rose from [...]
Today is the day of the Pre-Budget Report and Chancellor Alistair Darling will give more detailed plans about how the Government intends to halve the £180 billion deficit. Moody’s credit rating agency has warned that Britain is facing a “fiscal crisis” unless the Government takes action to pay off the debt or risk losing its [...]
Delegates at a conference in London this week will consider the possibility of a zero-growth economy. The conference, organised by the Quakers, will look at “the connections between the global economy, people and the environment”, and will consider the links between unfettered economic growth and climate change. The global economy is nearly five times the [...]
Over the weekend Jordan’s central bank announced that it will cut the benchmark lending rates by 0.5 percent in order to increase liquidity and make sure that the availability of cheap credit will help the country avoid the downward spiral of the global financial turmoil. The rate will fall to 5.25 percent with the overnight [...]
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Britain is heading for the worst economic downturn since the end of the Second World War, and the organisation has drastically cut forecasts as the signs for recovery are poor. The OECD forecasts are that UK GDP would fall by 3.7 percent by the end [...]
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), growth in the seven largest economies are set to slow further. The Paris-based organisation said its research for June points towards a continued weakening outlook for all the major seven economies. The warning comes as the fallout from the credit crisis has affected economies worldwide, [...]
Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that as a result of the credit squeeze, the global economy will grow much more slowly in the next 2 years. The IMF warned that the US will slump into recession following the largest financial shock since the Great Depression. It is the first major international institution to [...]
Quarter of final-salary pension schemes closed
Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of private-sector final-salary pension schemes were closed in 2011, according to the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). In comparison, just 3 per cent of final-salary pension schemes closed in 2008, while the proportion increased to 17 per cent in 2010. It is estimated that the closure of this [...]
Short-service pension refunds to be banned
Employees who have been with a company for less than two years will no longer be eligible for a refund of the money they have paid into a defined-contribution pension scheme, under proposed reforms. The change, which is designed to stop employees leaving a firm without a pension, has been welcomed by the National Association [...]
Accounts failing to inflation-proof savings
Research by comparison site Moneyfacts has found that there is not one single savings account currently available that will completely protect taxpayers’ savings from the effects of tax and inflation. The latest figures show that inflation fell slightly in November, from 5.0 per cent to 4.8 per cent, on the Consumer Prices Index. This means [...]
LSL Property Services, which includes Your Move and Reeds Rains, announced a 0.4 per cent drop in rent for a ‘typical’ property to £717 in November. Rents have been rising throughout the year, driven by increased demand from people unable to afford to buy a propert and November’s decline marked the first fall in rent [...]
New rules may ease negative equity problems
The FSA’s report into lending, due to be published next week, is expected to include proposals to help home owners in negative equity. The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that one in 12 homeowners are in negative equity, with their home now worth less than the price they paid for it, making it impossible for [...]
Student Loans Company warns of phishing attack
The Student Loans Company is contacting customers who it believes may have had their personal details compromised as a result of a phishing attack. The email attack was designed to steal students’ personal details and the company is advising students that a genuine email from the company would never ask them to divulge personal or [...]
Brits losing faith in inflation strategy
The Bank of England’s latest inflation attitudes survey suggests that fewer people believe inflation is being controlled effectively with interest rates. In August, when the survey was last carried out, the proportion satisfied that the Bank was doing its job to set interest rates to control inflation, versus those dissatisfied, was 16 per cent, but [...]
CML warns house repossessions will rise
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) expects the number of house repossessions to increase by 21.6 per cent from 37,000 this year to 45,000 in 2012 due to an increase in unemployment and falling household incomes. The CML also expects housing transactions to fall next year, with 825,000 homes expected to be sold compared with [...]
Banks to display deposit protection signs
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is introducing new rules which will require banks and building societies to display clear signs at branches and on their websites, telling customers their savings are protected. The sign will tell savers: “Your deposits are protected up to £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the UK deposit protection scheme. [...]
Co-op Bank to buy Lloyds branches
The Co-operative Group has been named preferred bidder for 632 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group. The Co-op was in competition with NBNK for the branches which are being sold under European competition rules. It will now enter exclusive talks with Lloyds over the deal, which would expand its branch network to 947, giving [...]
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