There are fears that the debt crisis in the euro zone could hit the global economy but Australia believes its economy will be unaffected. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor, Glenn Stevens, the country’s strong trade connections with East Asia means it will be relatively unaffected by the events in the euro [...]
Credit rating agency Fitch today warned that the UK needs a more ambitious deficit reduction plan, in view of the events in the euro zone. The pound fell against the dollar after Fitch’s comments, by 1% to $1.437. According to Fitch, the pace of the deficit reduction needs to be quicker than that announced by [...]
In a major speech in Milton Keynes this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron said the budget problems are even worse than thought and has laid the blame with the former Government. His speech, which comes ahead of the emergency budget on 22 June, issued a stark warning about the painful spending cuts which his Government [...]
In a major speech in Milton Keynes this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to issue a stark warning about the painful spending cuts which his Government is to implement in the years to come. Mr Cameron is expected to say: “The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country. And [...]
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Prime Minister David Cameron said action needed to be taken to deal with the “huge amount of debt” but promised to explain “the purpose behind the pain”. He said: “The country has got an overdraft. The interest on that overdraft is swallowing up things that the nation should [...]
Fitch Ratings cut Spain’s credit rating from the maximum AAA to AA+ on Friday and the news comes just a week after one of the country’s banks, CajaSur, was bailed out. Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating a month ago and comes as the country has been forced to implement tough austerity measures in [...]
Influential think-tank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has raised its worldwide growth forecasts in its twice-yearly report. The Paris-based Organisation said the global economy is recovering faster than expected with Asia continuing to drive the expansion. However, debt crises in many countries may threaten expansion in the developed world, the OECD warned. [...]
Stock markets across the world fell sharply today over ongoing fears about the debt crisis in the euro zone. London’s FTSE fell below the crucial 5,000 mark today to 4,939.6 points – its lowest level for eight months. Germany’s Dax index lost 2.7%, while France’s Cac 40 index fell 3.2%. Earlier in the day, Asian [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a severe warning to the Spanish economy suggesting it needs “far-reaching” reforms to ensure its recovery. The economy, which is the euro zone’s fourth largest, exited recession in the first quarter of the year after experiencing growth of just 0.1% – ending a run of seven consecutive quarters [...]
The Cabinet Office has today announced that the world’s second largest economy expanded by 1.2% between January and March compared with the previous quarter – marking the fourth straight quarter of expansion. The growth was boosted by exports, while on an annual basis, growth was 4.9% – however, analysts had expected growth of between 5.4% [...]
The strength of the recovery in the world’s second largest economy should lead it to start reducing its massive debt from 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is urging Japan to increase consumption tax, while containing its growth in spending, in order to deal with its debt which currently stands at [...]
The National Federation of Sub-Postmasters has today warned that 3,000 post offices are at risk of closure. According to George Thomson, the Federation’s general secretary, a ‘double squeeze’ of falling income from Post Office Limited, along with higher staff and utility bills means many post offices are struggling to keep their heads above water. Post [...]
The European Commission has warned that additional measures may need to be taken by Portugal in order to cut its budget deficit. Like Greece, Portugal’s public finances are in a dire state and last month, international credit rating agency, Fitch, cut the country’s credit rating to ‘AA-’ with a negative outlook. According to Fitch, Portugal’s [...]
A survey among UK companies has found that confidence has surged to a level not since the summer of 2006. BDO’s Business Trends index, which covered 11,000 companies from a range of industries, rose to 103.2 in March from 99.4 – the highest in almost four years. In addition, the output index grew to 102 [...]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today warned Governments in its member countries to take action to trim their budget deficits. The OECD, which includes 30 territories such as the US, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and European countries, is forecasting that debt would exceed 100% of GDP in 2011 across its member [...]
The World Bank has raised its GDP forecast for China and urged the Government to let the yuan appreciate to stop the economy overheating. China‘s economy, which is currently the world’s third largest, has led the way in the global recovery and many have described its recovery as “impressive”. In a quarterly update on China, [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed February was the seventh consecutive month in which permanent places rose. According to the report, more full-time jobs were added in February than at any time since July 2007. The index, which is produced by Markit for the REC and KPMG, grew [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that the UK’s public finances deteriorated last month with net borrowing at £4.3 billion. January is traditionally a strong month for tax receipts – due to income and corporation tax, according to the ONS. However, tax income was lower than expected and it is the first [...]
In its latest forecast for the world’s largest economy, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has said economic growth will be between 2.8% and 3.5% in 2010 – better than its previous forecast of 2.5% to 3.5%. However, the Fed has warned that despite strong growth for this year, unemployment will remain high. Earlier [...]
Former IMF chief economist, Simon Johnson, has warned that the UK’s debt levels should be seen in the same category of highly indebted countries such as Greece. Mr Johnson’s was speaking to the BBC about the UK’s debt as the G7 finance ministers discussed the crisis in some of the euro zone economies. Last week, [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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