High Speed Two railway to North unveiled today January 27, 2013 THE SECOND phase of the £33bn High Speed Two (HS2) railway will be unveiled by the government this morning, with communities learning whether they will be affected by the twin lines from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester. However plans for a direct link to Heathrow have been postponed while the government decides on the future [...]
The state is still growing – this isn’t the right kind of austerity January 27, 2013 IF we want to identify a problem correctly, it is vital to get the facts right. The economy is doing poorly: the official statistics suggest it shrank by 0.3 per cent in the last three months of last year; even when one excludes the oil and gas sector, growth was feeble in 2012. We also [...]
UK tax takes hit as QE increases pension deficits January 27, 2013 PRINTING money to lower interest rates has blown open pension fund deficits, making firms pile money in to plug the gap and denying the taxman a major stream of revenue, according to analysis of new data from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Quantitative easing (QE) is one major factor in increasing the deficits, which the [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 27, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Hands to ‘move on’ with fundraiser Guy Hands, founder of private equity firm Terra Firma, aims to bolster his plans to raise funds this year by returning €3bn to investors through disposals within the next 12 to 18 months. Mr Hands is pressing ahead with a €3bn fund to buy green energy infrastructure [...]
Ireland looks to change debt deal January 27, 2013 Ireland will make changes to its proposal to ease the statess bank debt burden, government ministers said yesterday, adding that failure to reach a deal with the European Central Bank could have catastrophic consequences. The ECB rejected Ireland’s preferred solution over how to reschedule part of its state-owned bank debt, it was reported at the [...]
Singapore in rate rigging row January 27, 2013 Internal reviews by banks in Singapore have found evidence that traders colluded to manipulate rates in the offshore foreign exchange market, according to a source with knowledge of the inquiries. The discovery widens a global lending rate scandal into new markets, as fallout from the Libor case puts banks under added scrutiny and spurs both [...]
State of emergency in Egypt January 27, 2013 Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi declared a month-long state of emergency last night in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez along the Suez Canal, which have been the focus of anti-government violence that has killed dozens of people over the past four days. Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said during the [...]
City fears over Carney’s plan for high prices January 27, 2013 ECONOMISTS and campaigners hit out at the incoming Bank of England governor’s plans for the British economy yesterday, arguing that higher inflation would damage the economy rather than promote a recovery. Mark Carney told the World Economic Forum that “the immediate priority is to ensure economies reach escape velocity,” and that there should be “tolerances” [...]
M&A deals in emerging markets surge in 2012 following slump January 27, 2013 GLOBAL spending on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in emerging high-growth markets rose by five per cent last year, following a 25 per cent slump in 2011. However, spending by British firms more than halved, according to figures released today. Research by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer puts global investment in the world’s 24 fastest-growing economies [...]
Pension schemes are closing at the fastest rate ever as costs hit January 27, 2013 COMPANIES killed off pension schemes at a record rate last year as mounting costs led to a slew of fresh closures, figures out today show. A survey by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found that open defined benefit schemes plunged by a third in the private sector last year, down to just 13 [...]
