Global trade resilient but uncertainty persists, IMF director warns Economics Trade is expected to stabilise over 2026 but global uncertainty may potentially impact economies by up to two per cent of their GDP, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) director has warned. Jihad Azour, who oversees the MENA, North Africa, Central Asia, and the Caucasus Region, said 2025 was a year “of two cities,” with shocks [...]
Private credit: Ponzi scheme or panacea? Banking Over the past decade, the private credit industry has ballooned from arcane financial solution to a core pillar of asset management. But recent tremors in corporate debt markets have led several economic institutions to warn of its risks to the global economy. Ali Lyon asks: how worried should we be? What kept you awake at [...]
Rachel Reeves: Higher taxes on wealthy ‘part of story’ for Budget Economics Rachel Reeves has confirmed a tax grab on the UK’s wealthy will be “part of the story” for her forthcoming Autumn Budget as she dismissed critics who fear an exodus from the nation’s richest. The Chancellor has faced rallying calls to launch a cash grab on the wealthy as she looks to strum up funds [...]
UK economy grew 0.1 per cent in August October 16, 2025 The UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in August, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have shown, with a struggling construction sector in the month weighing down on output across the UK. The ONS data indicated on Wednesday morning the UK economy was set for a significant slowdown after an upswing in spending over [...]
Should we be worried about AI market concentration? October 16, 2025 An interesting statistic caught my eye this week on reading the IMF’s report into global financial stability. The report cited a decades-old measure known as the Herfindahl-Hirschman index. While hardly catchy, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index is a simple tool for assessing the dominance of certain players within the market. The higher the number, the greater the [...]
IMF sounds alarm on soaring sovereign debt October 15, 2025 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged governments to bear down on profligate spending after it found government debt was on course to reach 100 per cent of global GDP within the next five years. In its latest Fiscal Monitor report, the world’s preeminent financial institution sounded the alarm on developed and developing nations’ over-reliance [...]
Self-inflicted damage makes mockery of government growth pledge October 15, 2025 Back in June, before Donald Trump orchestrated a tentative peace in the Middle East, he reacted with fury to Israel and Iran’s escalating exchange of missile and drone attacks, telling reporters “they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing.” Sometimes undiplomatic language has its place, even in high-stakes diplomacy. I was reminded of this approach [...]
IMF downgrades UK growth and warns inflation will be highest in G7 October 14, 2025 Inflation in the UK is set to surge above all G7 countries in the next two years while growth per capita will lag behind the average across advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted. In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF has said that inflation in the UK will remain higher than [...]
IMF annual meeting is high-stakes for the UK economy October 13, 2025 Amid global uncertainty, the UK economy needs a vote of confidence from the IMF at its annual meeting this week, writes Chris Hayward.
On This Day: Britain asks the IMF for a loan September 30, 2025 49 years ago today, sterling crashed to its lowest ever point against the dollar. Denis Healey stared down his socialist opponents and asked the IMF for a loan – paving the way for Margaret Thatcher’s election victory, writes Eliot Wilson Denis Winston Healey, chancellor of the Exchequer (1974-79) and Labour’s indomitable intellectual brawler, soaked up [...]