The UK economy needs a fiscal boost of £10 billion to £20 billion in order to avoid another recession, a leading think tank said today. In its annual Green Budget, The Institute for Fiscal Studies calls for Chancellor George Osborne to include a short-term fiscal stimulus in his budget. This would buffer the UK economy [...]
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 [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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