Microfinance can drive growth but hurdles remain October 30, 2013 SOCIAL enterprises in the Islamic world are playing an important role in driving improvements in living standards – particularly for hitherto marginalised groups. Jita, for instance, a Bangladeshi social enterprise, provides a sustainable source of income for over 4,000 women in rural villages. Supplied by 150 local distribution hubs, these “Avon ladies of Bangladesh” go [...]
Yellen: Low rates to stay as labour market still unsatisfactory May 7, 2014 Janet Yellen has today defended the US’s central bank’s accommodative policy, saying it still remains warranted – it’s not rushing to raise interest rates. Giving her testimony to Congress, this is Yellen’s first opportunity to speak following April’s improved jobs figures. Dismissing concerns over growth stangation in the first quarter – which, she said, were [...]
How Co-op may be downgraded if reforms falter March 12, 2014 THE TROUBLED Co-operative Group could lose its credit rating if it does not turn itself around, ratings agency analysts warned yesterday. Its reformist chief executive Euan Sutherland quit this week after failing to win over opponents on the group’s board. Sutherland will not be replaced until Lord Myners has completed his review of the mutual’s [...]
London Report: British economy in fifth straight growth quarter April 27, 2014 BRITAIN’S economy is expected to show its continued return to form this week, with official data likely to show a fifth consecutive quarter of expansion. Figures due from the Office for National Statistics tomorrow are expected to reveal the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, despite worries that February flooding would [...]
The new machine age: Britain must not miss out on the robot revolution June 23, 2014 MORE and more people are concerned about a wave of robots stealing their jobs. But for Britain, there’s a more pressing concern: what if the robot economy doesn’t arrive here at all? For a while now, pundits have been speculating that robots, self-driving cars and clever algorithms will take many of the jobs now done [...]
How Britain can rebuild welfare with the power of individual contributions April 15, 2014 THE TWO great legacies of post-war socialism were the NHS and the Beveridge system of welfare. Designed for a different world, with a younger population and lower life expectancies, both are seen as politically untouchable, impossible or at least very difficult to reform. Periodic attempts to introduce internal market mechanisms to drive efficiency in the [...]
Inside Track: Pfizer flop puts Soriot in tight spot May 21, 2014 IF AT first you don't succeed, walk away and try again in six months: as City epithets go, it’s not exactly compelling. But it sums up where Pfizer finds itself at the end of this week, unexpectedly jilted after a quartet of knockbacks from Astrazeneca. The American drugmaker’s tactics were surprising. Its medicine cabinet was [...]
The hidden costs of low interest rates are hurting the economy April 24, 2014 WE ALL know the dangers of high interest rates: borrowers end up having to fork out more, some people and companies with high amounts of debt will go bust, and the reduced disposable incomes and profits hit economic growth. But a policy of permanently low interest rates comes with its own distortions and risks. UK [...]
Bottom Line: Time to stop throwing good money after bad March 24, 2014 WHEN stressed out, at-odds parents are involved in a heated dispute of their own, the last thing they need is their naughtiest child barging in and asking for cash. But that’s what happened to the Co-op Group yesterday, when its flailing bank subsidiary came knocking for another £120m to prop up its losses – on [...]
Annuity market to collapse by £8bn because of rule switch March 20, 2014 SAVERS fleeing the pension annuity market will cause it to collapse by two-thirds over the next 18 months, analysts predict, as the fallout from the Budget continued to hit markets. Barclays analysts said the annuity market could shrink from £12bn a year to just £4bn by September 2015, due to changes announced in the Budget, [...]