Businesses urge government action to boost shrinking economy August 31, 2012 Britain’s government must take bold steps to boost investment, and the Bank of England should drop its resistance to buying company loans in order to get the economy out of recession, the country’s largest business lobby said on Friday. The call by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) for sweeping, potentially debt-financed measures to boost [...]
Bank intervention makes risk management critical September 24, 2012 FX360 CENTRAL banks have never been averse to interventionist strategies. But the approach has certainly fallen from favour – and in spectacular fashion – on a couple of occasions in recent memory. Just over twenty years ago, the UK was desperate to stay within the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), a system that required each [...]
Liberate Isa cash to aim it at SMEs September 9, 2012 SIGNING an e-petition is about as close as the British get to the direct democracy of ancient Athens. And although it’s easy to doubt the efficacy of adding your digital weight behind something that politicians can ultimately ignore, 100,000 signatures will at least mean the issue is considered for debate in the House of Commons. [...]
Housing continued its recovery in June but it may face troubles August 14, 2012 HOUSE PRICES continued to recover steadily in June, driven by a robust London market, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday, but data for July suggests the recovery might be short-lived. Prices rose an average of 2.3 per cent across the UK in the year to June, equal to the [...]
Mortgage approvals plummet to their lowest level for 18 months July 30, 2012 MORTGAGE approvals plunged to their lowest number in a year and a half in June, according to Bank of England data released yesterday. Only 44,192 loans for home purchase were waved through by lenders last month, down from 50,544 in May and significantly below economists’ forecasts. While two extra bank holidays falling in June might [...]
Bovis Homes doubles profit in first half August 20, 2012 Housebuilder Bovis Homes Group doubled profit in the first half of 2012, helped by a rise in the number of its sales outlets, and said it expected profit to increase further in the second half of 2012. The company said today that profit before tax for the six months to the end of June was [...]
Great boost to the economy – but public still feeling pain October 25, 2012 IT is not every day that the British economy gives us cause to celebrate, so we should all make the most of yesterday’s excellent third quarter GDP growth figures. The economy bounced back by one per cent compared with the second quarter, which was very good going by any measure. The figures need to be [...]
UK focus on ECB meeting outcome September 2, 2012 THURSDAY will be the highlight of the week for economists, with all eyes on results of the European Central Bank policy meeting. While the market waits to hear the latest plans to fix the Eurozone’s debt problem, the Bank of England will also be announcing its latest interest rate decision and asset purchase plan. However, [...]
Cutting your energy bills is simpler than you think October 21, 2012 INCREASED strain is being put on household budgets after four of the “big six” energy providers announced plans to hike their prices in the upcoming months. Two weeks ago, British Gas said it plans to raise gas and electricity prices by an average of 6 per cent. A few hours later, Npower announced that its [...]
Businesses need a government that takes a long view August 30, 2012 THE British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) new forecast, published today, makes for pretty grim reading. We’re now expecting the UK economy to contract in 2012, and for growth to be anaemic in 2013. Although there are many businesses out there who are proving surprisingly resilient, the economy as a whole continues to bump along the [...]