UK mortgage approvals dip in February March 31, 2025 Mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased again in February as gains in consumer credit borrowing slowed down by £300m compared to January, the Bank of England said on Tuesday. House buying appeared to slow down as lenders approved around 65,500 mortgages in February, compared to some 66,100 in January. January saw a decrease of around [...]
Add growth to Bank of England’s remit, Treasury told March 24, 2025 The Treasury has been urged to change the Bank of England’s remit to include growth after a new paper by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) said a focus on nominal GDP would lead to “more stable” policymaking. The Bank is mandated to hit an inflation target of two per cent and sets interest rates [...]
Bank of England holds interest rates amid low growth and trade tensions March 20, 2025 The Bank of England has held interest rates at 4.5 per cent as worries over a global trade war flare up. Rate-setter Swati Dhingra, an external member on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), was the lone wolf who voted for a 25 basis point cut. The decision saw Catherine Mann split from Dhingra after the [...]
UK wage growth remains hot as Bank of England set to decide on interest rates March 20, 2025 Wage growth has continued to soar, new figures have revealed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that annual regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew 5.9 per cent between November 2024 and January 2025. Total pay growth, which includes bonuses, increased by 5.8 per cent. “Overall pay growth remains relatively strong, with pay growth high in [...]
Mark Carney: From the Bank of England to Prime Minister of Canada March 10, 2025 Following his dramatic ascension as Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney will surely be tempted to call an election on a platform of taking the fight to Donald Trump. But if he wins, that’s where his problems will start, says Michael Martins For such a staid and sober place, Canadian politics has taken a radical [...]
The four factors set to raise inflation this year March 7, 2025 Inflation will briefly hit 3.6 per cent this year and “remain well above” the Bank of England’s target until late 2026, according to Oxford Economics. In a report led by UK economist Edward Allenby outlined the four key drivers of inflation in the upcoming year. Changes in the Budget Allenby highlighted the VAT slapped onto [...]
Yorkshire Building Society profit tumbles as margins fall February 27, 2025 Profit took a tumble at Yorkshire Building Society, as declining interest rates tightened the firm’s interest margins. The building society booked a £385.2m profit in 2024, compared to the £453.7m pocketed in 2023. The decline was largely due to net interest income falling £49.5m year-on-year, as increased pressure on mortgage and saving books boosted reductions. [...]
Could the Bank of England push the UK into recession? January 23, 2025 As the Bank of England scrambles to unwind the disastrous effects of quantitative easing, the hidden costs of this policy are becoming clear, says Damian Pudner Quantitative easing (QE) has long been the Bank of England’s monetary policy nuclear option. Launched in 2009 to save a collapsing financial system, it was supercharged during the pandemic, [...]
Give parliament a vote on quantitative easing January 9, 2025 QE should not be the preserve of bean-counting central bankers – money printing is not an abstract issue, it has real consequences for people’s ordinary lives, says Sam Bidwell If one thing characterises British politics in the post-Thatcher era, it is a serial addiction to avoiding questions about the structure of our economy. On the [...]
Forget Reeves’ CV – there’s a bigger transparency problem in monetary policy November 28, 2024 The real discussion shouldn’t be about whether Reeves deserves to call herself an “economist”. It should focus on the unchecked power of current central bank leaders, the far-reaching consequences of their decisions, and how we hold them to account, says Tim Focas The recent controversy over Rachel Reeves’ tenure as an economist at the Bank [...]