Budget Britain: Inflation forces families to trade down and opt for staycations June 28, 2023 Britons are trading down to cheaper products and are opting to holiday at home in response to rampant inflation and higher interest rates squeezing their budgets, new research out today shows. Some 40 per cent of families have been buying more value or own brand products in 2023, according to analysis from consultancy KPMG. The [...]
Bank of England’s Tenreyro warns more interest rate hikes risks pushing inflation below target June 27, 2023 A Bank of England official has said raising interest rates too aggressively could push inflation below the central bank’s target over the coming years. Departing monetary policy committee (MPC) member and professor at the London School of Economics Silvana Tenreyro today said tightening borrowing costs in an economy that is undergoing a severe external energy [...]
Bank of England and Rishi Sunak fail to win over investors on inflation fight June 27, 2023 Investors are sweating over Britain’s inflation problem running out of control and the Bank of England being unable to solve it any time soon, exclusive research for City A.M. has revealed. More than a year of raging prices has eroded confidence in policymakers’ ability to ease the cost of living crisis. Some 56 per cent [...]
Let’s all hand our cash over to the Treasury to pay off UK’s £2.5 trillion debt pile (not) June 27, 2023 Here’s a fun fact. If everyone in the UK worked for a year and gave all their earnings to the Treasury, the government could nearly repay the country’s more than £2.5 trillion debt pile. Alright, that’s oversimplifying the equation. But it does illustrate a principle in economics that often gets lost in the deluge of [...]
FTSE 100 close: Banks regain ground amid interest rate concerns as Vodafone slumps June 26, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged into the red today, driven by Britain’s largest banks struggling amid concerns about how much higher UK interest rates will go and Vodafone tumbling. The capital’s premier index fell 0.11 per cent to 7,453.59 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of [...]
Rich Brits only group to pocket disposable income rise as inflation chokes poorest families’ finances June 26, 2023 The richest households in the UK are the only group to have undergone a living standards improvement over the last year, while poorer families are being whacked by sky high energy and food bills, according to research out today. Top earners in Britain have seen their post-bill weekly income increase 2.1 per cent over the [...]
Rishi Sunak pleads with Brits to ‘hold our nerve’ in face of sky high interest rates and inflation June 26, 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged the country to “hold our nerve” with sky high interest rates in order to beat down scorching inflation. Sunak today on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme gave his full backing the Bank of England’s latest interest rate rise as Tory backbenchers slammed Governor Andrew Bailey for being “asleep [...]
British businesses struggle to source cash amid Bank of England interest rate hikes June 26, 2023 British businesses are struggling to source cash to fuel growth as lenders retrench from the credit market after the Bank of England’s 13 straight interest rate rises, new research out last night showed. Just over nine in 10 mid-sized companies are running into roadblocks when trying to secure financing, prompting them to shelve expansion plans, [...]
Roaring mortgage rates to keep a lid on housing demand as City eyes Bailey and Pill remarks June 26, 2023 Roaring mortgage rates in response to markets betting the Bank of England will have to send official borrowing costs to over six per cent are poised to have kept a lid on housing demand. Fresh figures out this Thursday from the Bank of England are expected to show the volume of mortgages approved in May [...]
Bank of England and others may have to keep rates ‘higher for longer’ to crush inflation June 25, 2023 The Bank of England and the rest of the world’s top monetary authorities’ fight against roaring inflation “is not yet done,” one of the globe’s leading economic institutions has warned. In its annual analysis on the state of the world economy released today, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often referred to as the “central [...]