London must square the circle to deliver a sustainable transport network May 28, 2020 Transport for London’s (TfL) funding, both in the short and long-term, was a thorny issue even before the pandemic set the scene for an eruption of the tensions between central and London governments. While keeping the system afloat is rightly the focus of debate – and will be again when the temporary solution expires in [...]
The City View: ‘End the lockdown now and cut taxes to avoid a depression’ – Dan Hannan May 28, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by Dan Hannan, former Tory MEP now president of the Initiative for Free Trade. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Dan is a lockdown-sceptic and he makes a powerful case for reopening the economy and avoiding a crippling collapse in economic activity. In addition, he believes the government must [...]
Stock Exchanges in Nigeria and Ghana aim to deepen West African capital markets May 26, 2020 CFA Institute has examined Africa’s 10 largest capital markets in a major report compiled by Heidi Raubenheimer, CFA, our senior director for journal publications. Here we highlight key developments in the West African states of Nigeria and Ghana. Download the full report here. LSEG partnership boosts confidence in Nigerian exchange The economy of Nigeria – the [...]
Covid-19: the inescapable truths faced by investors May 22, 2020 Investors will need to be more agile than ever as Covid-19 reinforces many of the trends driving the world economy prior to the outbreak. “At the beginning of the plague, when there was now no more hope but that the whole city would be visited; when all that had friends or estates in the country [...]
Matalan founder sues PwC over tax haven advice May 20, 2020 The founder of budget fashion retailer Matalan is suing PwC, claiming the accounting giant gave him bad advice on how to avoid paying taxes in the UK when he moved to Monaco. Multimillionare John Hargreaves said PwC had been negligent in its advice on his relocation from England to Monaco, which would have enabled him [...]
£500m Future Fund launch mired by fears startups will miss out May 20, 2020 Future Fund, the government’s £500m answer to startups’ need for cash to survive coronavirus, is set to launch today – but risks freezing out a swathe of British firms, entrepreneurs and investors have warned. That many startups cannot yet demonstrate a turnover, and that they typically rely on equity investment for cash flow, excludes most [...]
Coronavirus: There are opportunities for wily – and brave – investors May 4, 2020 Britain’s investors could be forgiven for feeling desperate in the current crisis. They have faced a triple whammy from world markets, governments and companies. Not only have they seen the value of their portfolios fall by up to 20%, but with company after company cancelling dividends, their income has fallen by half. Heavyweights such as [...]
A new economic era beckons after this crisis April 29, 2020 Current events likely mark a turning point in economic policy and the end of a 40-year spell of free market capitalism. Nobody can know how long the Covid-19 crisis will last, but I think that regardless of this it will mark a profound long-term change in economic policy. It is likely a turning point in [...]
Coronavirus: Will rescue package make tax hikes inevitable? April 29, 2020 In the past six weeks the Chancellor has, quite rightly, announced a far-reaching package of measures to support the economy through the Covid-19 crisis that could cost up to £100bn. He may yet need to do more. Tax revenues will also be much lower than expected due to the hit to economic activity from the [...]
UK borrowing higher than expected before coronavirus lockdown April 23, 2020 The UK went over its borrowing target for the most recent financial year, it revealed today, but coronavirus spending is set to dwarf its budget deficit. Borrowing between April 2019 and March 2020 rose to £48.7bn, compared to forecasts of £47.4bn, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But a swathe of public spending [...]