UK house prices grow at strongest pace in four years December 7, 2020 UK house prices soared by 7.6 per cent in the year to November, according to the latest figures from Halifax, as buyers sought more space and tried to beat the end of the stamp duty holiday. House prices rose 1.2 per cent month on month and 7.6 per cent year on year to hit an [...]
Biden names top economic advisers as Arizona, Wisconsin certify vote results December 3, 2020 Biden officially names Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, setting stage for a more diverse White House
Economics lessons from history: Don’t expect a post-Covid boom December 2, 2020 Just over 200 years ago, the finances of the British government looked even more parlous than they do today. Since the mid-1790s, the country had been engaged in a titanic struggle with Napoleon’s France. To pay for the conflict, the government had borrowed on a massive scale. The cumulative financial deficit — the difference between [...]
The best medicine for the Covid economy? Tax reform December 1, 2020 In last week’s Spending Review, the scale of the economic challenge facing Britain was made unequivocally clear: the worst drop in GDP for centuries, unprecedented peacetime borrowing, and lasting scarring effects on productivity and the labour market. The chancellor is keen to stress that these problems will require a concerted response in the years ahead. [...]
Mortgage approvals jump to 13-year high as pandemic prompts house moves November 30, 2020 Mortgage approvals jumped last month as the coronavirus pandemic, and support measures such as the stamp duty holiday, prompted more people to move home. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase reached 97,500 in October, compared to 92,100 the previous month, reaching the highest level since September 2007. Approvals were 33 per cent higher [...]
Got an idea to supercharge growth in left-behind Britain? Your country needs you! November 30, 2020 A lot has changed since the nation last went to the ballot box. A generation will never again take freedom for granted. The national debt exceeds 100 per cent of GDP. Lives have been lost, attainment gaps have widened, dying industries have been dealt a coup de grâce. But in one area the narrative has [...]
BoE’s Haldane sees inflation risks as economies bounce back November 29, 2020 Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said inflation could rise by more than expected as progress on Covid-19 vaccines and huge amounts of stimulus raised the chances of a swift economic bounce-back. “As the economic recovery gathers pace next year, it will be important central banks remain squarely focussed on their core medium-term price stability mandates,” Haldane said in a speech [...]
Germany to double net borrowing for 2021 after suspending budget rule November 27, 2020 Germany will double its initially planned borrowing for 2021 to help finance businesses hit hard by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers said Friday morning. The parliamentary budget committee has agreed to a debt of €180bn (£160bn), almost twice the originally planned €96bn (£85bn). This is the second largest amount of net borrowing [...]
Eurozone economic confidence slides amid soaring Covid cases November 27, 2020 Economic confidence fell sharply in the Eurozone in November, a new survey has shown, as the bloc grappled with soaring coronavirus cases and countries put in place economically damaging restrictions. The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator dropped 3.5 points to 87.6, having recovered sharply in the summer after the lockdowns of the spring. It comes [...]
Tiered lockdowns spread gloom over UK services sector November 27, 2020 Firms in the UK services sector became much more gloomy in the third quarter of the year as the Covid “second wave crashed”, after optimism picked up in the summer when cases were falling, the latest CBI survey has shown. The consumer services sector was particularly downbeat, with the pandemic hitting business harder than in [...]