A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is urging UK companies to focus on emerging markets, or join the “slow lane of history” by continuing to focus on markets in North America and Western Europe. In PwC’s latest “World in 2050″ series, the firm’s head of macroeconomics, John Hawksworth, comments: “Rapid growth in consumer markets in [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed producer input prices increased 0.7% in September compared with August, pushing the annual rate to 9.5%, from 8.7% the previous month. The figure was much higher than forecasts of a 0.4% monthly rise and an annual rate of 8.6%. Meanwhile, annual output price inflation slowed less than [...]
Russia’s economy improved in the second quarter of 2010 after figures showed growth of 5.4% compared with the same period a year ago. Economic growth has been driven in the three month period by rising consumer demand, according to the country’s deputy economy minister, Andrei Klepach. In the first quarter, GDP expanded 2.9% from the [...]
Bank Rossii, Russia’s central bank, has cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 9% – a record low and the ninth time rates have been cut since April in bid to boost demand. Russia’s economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports, has suffered from a severe downturn but the economy appears to now [...]
Statistics body Rosstat has today announced that Russia’s economy expanded by 13.9% in the third quarter compared with the second quarter. However, when compared with the same period a year ago, the Russian economy contracted by 8.9%. The economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports, has suffered from a severe downturn but the latest [...]
The Russian economy, which is heavily dependant on oil exports, is forecasted to contract by 7.5% in 2009, according to President Dmitry Medvedev. The latest official figures suggest that the Russian economy declined 10.2% in the year to August, compared with the same period a year earlier. The economy has been hit hard by the [...]
Analysts have suggested that the central bank of Russia has cut interest rates by 0.5 percent following pressure from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, since the reduction came a day after Putin met business leaders who called for a reduction in lending rates. The key refinancing rate fell to 12.5 percent and the government has given [...]
According to Russian business magazine Finans, Russia’s super rich have been severely hit by the global economic downturn. The magazine revealed that the number of billionaires in the country halved from 101 in 2008 to 49 in 2009. Forty-three year old technology and mining tycoon, Mikhail Prokhorov, is at the top of the list with [...]
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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