IMF’s Christine Lagarde says Greek plan not viable without debt reduction July 17, 2015 IMF chief Christine Lagarde has said that the deal between Greece and its creditors will be "categorically" impossible without some form of debt relief. "The answer is quite categorically not," she said in response to questions on the viability of the €86bn (£59.8bn) three-year aid package on France's Europe1 radio station. Lagarde added any debt [...]
BBC shows the strain over Tory reform plan: “Aunty has very much pulled up her sleeves” July 16, 2015 The BBC ramped up its fight with the government yesterday as a groundbreaking Conservative review threatened the broadcaster’s size, funding, content and regulation. Culture secretary John Whittingdale revealed a green paper on the future of the corporation, questioning whether it should aim to be “all things to all people”, attacking its “regressive” licence fee scheme [...]
Mark Carney fuels speculation of 2015 interest rate hike July 16, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney last night dropped another strong hint that markets could be underestimating the likelihood of a 2015 interest rate hike. “In the current circumstances there is no need to wait to raise rates because of a risk management approach and run the risk of inflation overshooting target,” he said in [...]
Draghi raises lending to Greek banks and calls for debt relief July 16, 2015 GREECE was given a major boost by the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday as it called for debt relief and lifted the amount that could be lent to its banks. ECB chief Mario Draghi said it was “uncontroversial” that Greece is in need of debt relief. It goes against the view of most of the Eurozone, who are resisting [...]
Boris banters in Twitter Q&A July 16, 2015 YOU WOULD have thought that by now politicians would have learnt to avoid Twitter Q&As. They just descend into silliness. Never one to let the fear of causing a scene deter him, Boris Johnson held his own yesterday and fought fire with fire. Rather than ignoring some of the sillier questions, including “are you excited [...]
Government on the tourist trail with new regional funding plan July 16, 2015 The Prime Minister will today announce the government’s new five point plan to boost tourism across the UK, with £15m funding available to the north and the south west of England. A group of ministers from several departments, including the Home Office and the department for business, innovation and skills, led by culture secretary John [...]
Interest rate hike decision could come “at turn of the year – Bank of England Governor Mark Carney July 16, 2015 A decision on an interest rate hike – the first since the financial crisis – will be made by policymakers at the end of the year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said in a speech on Thursday. Read more: Sterling jumps after Carney says interest rate hike "moving closer" The UK's economic recovery has [...]
Greek crisis: George Osborne wins guarantee that UK cash used in Greek loan will be paid back July 16, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has managed to secure a guarantee on £700m of British funds that will be loaned to Greece while it continues to negotiate its bailout. Earlier this week Eurozone officials decided that tapping into a €7bn pan-EU fund called the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) would be the most viable option. However, [...]
Four key takes from the ECB’s July presser July 16, 2015 1. ECB has hiked ELA to Greece: Draghi confirmed that the European Central Bank will increase the amount of liquidity assistance available to Greek banks by €900m in one week. He said that approval of bridge financing, plus the Greek parliament's move to vote in favour of austerity rules outlined by its lenders drove the decision. [...]
Culture secretary John Whittingdale unveils green paper to look at future of BBC funding July 16, 2015 Culture secretary John Whittingdale has unveiled a green paper on the future of the licence fee, suggesting it could become a household levy of a subscription service in the long term. This comes as an independent review headed by David Perry QC found it should still be a criminal offence to not hold a TV [...]