Inflation will push living costs 10 per cent higher than pre-crisis peak February 15, 2017 Inflation could push the cost of living 10 per cent higher than before the financial crisis by 2020, with 11m families below a poverty benchmark, according to a new report. Almost a third of the UK’s population falls below the minimum income standard measure used in the report by academics at Loughborough University and the [...]
An epidemic of fraud costs the UK economy as much as £125bn every year February 15, 2017 An epidemic of fraud since the global financial crisis has cost the UK economy £125bn every year, according to new research. Business losses from fraud and error have increased by 43 per cent since 2008, according to the research by Crowe Clark Whitehill and the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies. The research [...]
Real wage growth lowest since 2014 as inflation starts to bite February 15, 2017 Wage growth for British workers has slowed as inflation pushed down real earnings to their slowest increase since December 2014. Average weekly earnings grew by 2.6 per cent in the year to December before inflation is taken into account, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, when the increasing cost of living is added [...]
Protectionism is raising risks to companies’ global supply chains February 14, 2017 Protectionism and macroeconomic uncertainty have increased the risks to the world’s supply chains to the highest level in 24 years, according to an index tracking world trade. The index grew to a record high as Western Europe saw risks to the world economy’s globalised structure increase markedly, according to economists at Dun & Bradstreet. Companies [...]
Federal Reserve’s Janet Yellen sets course for rate rises if economy continues to perform well February 14, 2017 The US dollar jumped in value as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen told Congress a delay in raising interest rates could be “unwise” if the US economy continues to perform well, despite uncertainty around the outlook. However, Yellen said it was “too early” to know what policies US President Donald Trump’s administration would follow or [...]
Beleaguered Greek economy shrinks at end of 2016 as government hires Rothschild to advise on debt load February 14, 2017 The Greek economy shrank in the last three months of 2016, heaping more misery on the beleaguered country as it attempts to avoid a government default. Greece’s GDP fell by 0.4 per cent in the final quarter, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority, a steep fall from growth of 0.9 per cent in the three [...]
Inflation: How far will UK consumer prices rise this year? February 14, 2017 Inflation has already hit a 31-month high, but economists are almost universally predicted a steep rise in consumer prices over the coming year. The Bank of England (BoE) expects consumer prices to rise to 2.7 per cent by the end of this year, but other economists think that might be at the more conservative end [...]
Eurozone growth lower than expected as German inflation approaches European Central Bank target February 14, 2017 Growth in the Eurozone was revised down in the fourth quarter as more accurate data revealed a weaker than expected German economy as well as a surprise contraction in the struggling Greek economy. Growth in Europe's largest economy rose in the fourth quarter of 2016, confirming a solid rate of expansion for the year but [...]
Inflation rises closer to Bank of England’s target rate as factory gate prices soar February 14, 2017 Consumer prices growth accelerated at the fastest rate in 31 months in January, raising pressure on the Bank of England (BoE) to tighten monetary policy as inflation approaches its two per cent target, while a big jump in producer prices threatens to squeeze margins for manufacturers. The consumer price index (CPI) of inflation rose by [...]
Growth accelerated in January as UK consumers kept on spending February 10, 2017 The UK economy started the year strongly with an acceleration in January, according to estimates by an influential economic think tank. GDP grew by 0.7 per cent in the three months to January, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr). That compares to confirmed growth of 0.6 per cent in the [...]
