Our at-a-glance guide to Osborne’s mini-budget December 5, 2013 Growth up, borrowing down, yet the debt is still rising. Another raid on the banks, but shops to gain from reduced business rates THE UK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK● The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised up its forecast for economic growth and revised down its prediction for inflation. It expects unemployment to drop quickly next [...]
UK economy improving but far from cured December 5, 2013 THERE can be no doubt that this Winter Budget – as it should really have been called – was a great win for George Osborne. For the first time since around 2007, Britain is moving in the right, rather than the wrong, direction. Growth has bounced back, the deficit is falling, employment is surging, unemployment [...]
Timid new policies do little to address the risks behind Osborne’s good news December 5, 2013 FOR THE first time since before the financial crisis, the chancellor of the Exchequer was able to stand up and announce some good news at the Autumn Statement yesterday: the deficit, the labour market, and growth are all better than expected. Alistair Darling started by predicting a “trampoline” recovery when the recession first hit, with [...]
Economic growth boosts hopes for tax giveaways December 1, 2013 GEORGE Osborne could have more room for tax cut giveaways as the economy recovers, analysts predicted ahead of Thursday’s Autumn Statement. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is expected to reveal Osborne is ahead of previous forecasts on cutting the deficit, opening the way for him to consider loosening the purse strings. The OBR is [...]
Tories need to map out a tax cutting plan to ease the living cost squeeze December 1, 2013 AS THE chancellor’s Autumn Statement beckons, after a run of good economic news, it is time to address Britain’s less flattering fundamentals. Government has too much debt, the country too little to show for the recovery. Public spending at 48.4 per cent of GDP is debilitating, leaving the tax burden at its highest for 24 [...]
The retail champion who puts fame after business December 1, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks T-shirts and Small Business Saturday with Made in Chelsea’s Oliver Proudlock THE SERGE DeNimes headquarters is a cosy studio-cum-office, located exactly where you would expect for a business whose founder has found fame on Channel 4’s hugely-successful reality TV show Made In Chelsea. I’m hesitant about interviewing Oliver Proudlock, who, when not [...]
Inside Africa’s megacity: God, oil, and traffic chaos in Lagos November 29, 2013 From the Nollywood film industry to shanty-dwellers with a line in tech imports, Nigeria’s biggest city reveals its secrets to Alex Dymoke NO ONE knows quite how many people live in Lagos. Nigeria’s 2006 census put the official figure at just under 8m. The UN estimated the number for 2011 at 11.2m. Others say it’s [...]
Finance is inevitably complex but its regulators can stop chasing their tails November 27, 2013 FINANCIAL regulation becomes ever more onerous, as it chases its own tail. More and more, regulation mandates “best advice”, codes of ethics, legal punishment for directors if businesses go bust, mandatory offering of simple products, fines for companies if financial products decline in value instead of rise, and caps on charges and interest rates. This [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 25 November 2013 November 25, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Trafigura sells Puma stake for $500m Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodities trading houses, has raised $500m from the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Puma Energy in a deal that makes a stock market flotation of its fast-growing petrol station and oil terminal unit less likely. The company, which [...]
14 buyers fight for each house sold in London November 24, 2013 MORE than a dozen potential buyers are now battling for each property coming onto the market in London, according to an estate agent releasing new figures today. Barnard Marcus reports that there are now 14 people trying to get on the housing ladder for every new instruction to sell in the capital, pushing prices even [...]