Niesr: UK economy expanded 2.2 per cent in 2015 January 12, 2016 The UK economy grew by 2.2 per cent last year, according to an early estimate from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr), a think tank. While the growth rate would be slower than 2014's 2.9 per cent expansion, Niesr said it "remains consistent with the economy growing at close to its long-run potential [...]
Don’t leave your tax return until the last minute, warns Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, as deadline date for online filing falls on a Sunday this year January 12, 2016 The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has today urged people not to leave filing their tax return to the last second. The representative body for accountants warned that 31st January – the deadline date for filing a self-assessment tax return online – and 30th January were the busiest days for filing [...]
Reasons to be cheerful: One, two, three (and 4) January 11, 2016 The New Year has not been especially happy, so far, in the world of business and finance. The FTSE is down, China is chaotic, oil is plumbing new depths, and even desperate retailers are replacing their top execs or trying to snap up rivals. But it’s worth remembering that there are two sides to every coin, [...]
Deal spree to provide relief to the City with Shire on verge of tie-up with Baxalta January 11, 2016 A string of mega deals is set to provide welcome relief to the City after a rocky start to the year saw £85bn wiped off the value of the UK’s biggest firms in the first trading week of 2016. London-listed pharmaceutical giant Shire is on the verge of inking a £22bn deal with US rival Baxalta, [...]
Adam Smith Institute (ASI) wants to get rid of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and replace it with a rule tied to nominal GDP January 11, 2016 A leading free market group has proposed scrapping the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and replacing it with a rule that would trigger policy action. In a radical new paper out today that is likely to raise eyebrows among many economists and policymakers, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) says the Bank should get [...]
Bank of England’s monetary policy committee to keep interest rates at record lows this week January 10, 2016 The Bank of England’s committee of rate-setters will be keeping interest rates at record lows this week. A renewed drop in oil prices and slower pay growth are set to weigh on the Bank’s inflation outlook. Last month it voted to keep rates at 0.5 per cent – it aims to bring inflation to two per [...]
Saving in 2016: Years of low base rates have engendered a lack of thought about saving January 8, 2016 During the Christmas season, most people tend to be focused on family rather than finance, but as the new year develops, particularly with many facing an extra week before payday, thoughts inevitably creep back to more run of the mill matters. The rise in the US interest rate announced by the Federal Reserve is seen by many [...]
Pay growth falls to two-year low despite jobs rise January 8, 2016 Pay growth has slowed to its lowest rate in over two years, new survey figures show this morning. The slowdown comes despite an increase in job vacancies in December, according to the data compiled by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and financial services firm KPMG. The survey’s pay gauge slid to a score of 58.7 [...]
Treasury select committee chairman Andrew Tyrie slams the government over ONS and OBR, saying UK statistics are “scarcely fit for purpose” January 7, 2016 A leading MP has slammed the government over its number-crunching, saying some of the UK's statistics are "scarcely fit for purpose". Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the Treasury select committee, said today that the UK has "fallen behind other countries" when it comes to compiling national statistics. "The ONS has fallen a long way short, lacking intellectual [...]
EU referendum: Brexit makes winning a Scottish independence referendum more difficult January 7, 2016 Former foreign secretary William Hague made one of the more bizarre arguments for remaining in European Union when he asserted that a United Kingdom vote to leave the EU would “increase the chances … of Scotland leaving the UK.” It is true the Scottish National Party (SNP) says that a UK vote to leave the EU [...]