BoE board critical of King’s politics March 15, 2011 MEMBERS of the Bank of England’s oversight board voiced their unease at its politicisation at a parliamentary meeting yesterday. Four members of the supervisory Court of the Bank of England admitted they were uncomfortable with how the Bank had been drawn into politics and governor Mervyn King’s words had been used by ministers. Former industrialist [...]
BoE board critical of King’s politics March 15, 2011 MEMBERS of the Bank of England’s oversight board voiced their unease at its politicisation at a parliamentary meeting yesterday. Four members of the supervisory Court of the Bank of England admitted they were uncomfortable with how the Bank had been drawn into politics and governor Mervyn King’s words had been used by ministers. Former industrialist [...]
Rising deficit hits Osborne’s budget plans March 22, 2011 GOVERNMENT borrowing reached £11.8bn in February — a record high for this time of year – according to official figures released yesterday. Net borrowing, excluding interventions in the financial sector, was considerably higher than in February 2010, when the government recorded a £9.45bn monthly deficit. The figures cast doubt over the amount of leeway chancellor [...]
UK industrial output stalls April 6, 2011 British industrial output suffered a shock fall in February after a big monthly decline in oil and gas extraction due to maintenance work, official data showed. The figures point to a less strong rebound in broader economic output during the first three months of 2011, which may discourage the Bank of England from raising interest [...]
Budget sends the right signals to UK business March 27, 2011 PRIOR to last Wednesday’s announcement, George Osborne said he wanted to produce a Budget for growth. With a gaping hole in public finances, it was always clear that any growth could not be funded through Government largesse. It will be up to the private sector to generate wealth and offset public sector job losses. Unless [...]
Budget sends the right signals to UK business March 27, 2011 PRIOR to last Wednesday’s announcement, George Osborne said he wanted to produce a Budget for growth. With a gaping hole in public finances, it was always clear that any growth could not be funded through Government largesse. It will be up to the private sector to generate wealth and offset public sector job losses. Unless [...]
A muted market response March 23, 2011 THE Treasury has made a decent start to its austerity measures. The Budget appears well-balanced despite the fact there were hints of give-aways as the government looked to shore up confidence. Marginal improvements in income tax and the changes to petrol duty may help, although we did see a wobble in shorter term growth forecasts. [...]
A muted market response March 23, 2011 THE Treasury has made a decent start to its austerity measures. The Budget appears well-balanced despite the fact there were hints of give-aways as the government looked to shore up confidence. Marginal improvements in income tax and the changes to petrol duty may help, although we did see a wobble in shorter term growth forecasts. [...]
Inflation means bigger Budget cuts March 21, 2011 IT’S Budget time again. Tomorrow is George Osborne’s big day; he will be tasked with reinvigorating the coalition’s flagging support without giving up on austerity. There will be plenty of new policies, most of which have been heavily discussed already. But here are a few thoughts that you won’t have read elsewhere. Total public spending [...]
Moody’s downgrades Greece March 7, 2011 Ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded Greece from Ba1 to B1. A statement from Moody’s said: “Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded Greece’s government bond ratings to B1 from Ba1, and assigned a negative outlook to the rating.” It added that the country’s continuing difficulty on collecting revenue, allied with “ambitious” financial restructuring, plans led to [...]