Bitcoin would ‘break the internet’ if used as the main retail payments network says Bank for International Settlements June 17, 2018 Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum are a “poor substitute” for state-backed currencies and would break the internet if used in their current form at a national scale, according to a report published today by a powerful central banking body. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said that the lack of a central institution backing cryptocurrencies [...]
European Central Bank announces end of quantitative easing June 14, 2018 The European Central Bank (ECB) today announced the end of its quantitative easing (QE) bond purchases, in a landmark moment in the Eurozone's drawn-out economic recovery. The ECB said it will reduce the pace of asset purchases from €30bn (£26.4bn) per month to €15bn from September to December, in a press released today after its [...]
A sovereign wealth fund could diffuse the UK’s debt timebomb June 13, 2018 There’s a hint of sunshine peeping out from behind the grey clouds of austerity. After eight long years of belt-tightening, we’re living within our means at last. Our taxes cover our day-to-day spending on things like health, education, policing and defence, so we’re only having to borrow to invest in long-term infrastructure like roads and [...]
Higher oil prices to boost UK inflation with ECB and Federal Reserve in tightening mood June 10, 2018 Higher oil prices are expected to cause a rebound in UK inflation, adding to expectations that the Bank of England will carry out the rate hike it delayed in May in the coming months. Consumer price index inflation will bounce back in May to a yearly rate of 2.6 per cent in data published on [...]
Editor’s Notes: Time to wake up to your own online data dump March 23, 2018 Having spent the past decade pouring my every opinion and interest on toFacebook, I find myself outraged to discover that the data generated by my self-obsessed oversharing has been used to try and sell me things. Worse, political campaigns have been using my deep data footprint to try and target me with campaign messages. This [...]
Brexit job losses would have “severe” consequences for the British Budget says Institute for Fiscal Studies March 14, 2018 Job moves from the UK to the EU after Brexit would be a disaster for the public finances, according to the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said: "If high-paid jobs and EU citizens, who are well represented among high earners in the UK, relocate elsewhere the consequences for [...]
Canada finance minister: UK and Canada should aim for better trade deal than Ceta March 12, 2018 Canada and the UK should aim for a post-Brexit trade deal which is better than the current arrangement, according to finance minister Bill Morneau. Morneau said the deal agreed in late 2016 with the EU, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), will be the model for “replication” with the UK once it leaves, but [...]
The UK’s export economy is at its strongest point since 2000 March 7, 2018 UK exports are at their strongest position since 2000 despite threats posed by Brexit, a report by Heathrow Airport and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has found. Heathrow's export climate index tracks factors including the consumer confidence of the UK's main trade partners by their share of UK exports; effective exchange rate [...]
Bank of England set to hold rates on Super Thursday February 5, 2018 The Bank of England is set to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent on Thursday, but rate rises are forecast for later in the year. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will vote on the rate on so-called Super Thursday, when the bank will also release its quarterly inflation report and release the minutes [...]
The warning lights for the next economic crisis are starting to flash January 25, 2018 The global economic zeitgeist has shifted. A decade on from the financial crisis, the world economy can at last see over the hill and make out the features of the “Promised Land” called normalisation. There is a palpable sense that the world economy has crossed three important lines. First, that it is finally achieving synchronised [...]