Inflation and supply chain crisis to throttle UK economy, IMF warns January 25, 2022 The global supply crunch and roaring inflation will choke UK growth this year, the world’s economic watchdog warned today. A combination of the supply chain crisis rumbling on and the cost of living corroding Brits’ incomes has prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to downgrade their forecasts for UK economic growth this year to 4.7 [...]
The City View: Susannah Streeter and Michael Hewson on the Fed taming inflation, and the Spring Statement March 22, 2022 Today Charlie Conchie hosts The City View, talking to Hargreaves Lansdown’s Susannah Streeter and CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson. They discuss the Chancellor’s Spring Statement amidst this morning’s lacklustre public sector borrowing figures; Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish remarks on inflation; and oil prices, their link to inflation, and their considerable fluctuation this week. Charlie [...]
Governor Bailey: Nothing different BoE could have done to prevent double-digit inflation May 16, 2022 Bank of England chief Andrew Bailey today defended his performance in overseeing “the biggest test” in the monetary authority’s 25 years of independence. Bailey, 63, said there was nothing else the Bank could have done to prevent inflation surging to more than five times its two per cent target in response to a grilling by [...]
The spectre of entrenched inflation will soon hit loss-making start-ups hard February 18, 2022 Larry Summers was Treasury Secretary to Bill Clinton, Barack Obama’s Director of the National Economic Council, and President of Harvard University. When he offers an economic prediction, therefore, he is worth listening to. A recent one was sobering. Summers believes we are entering a period of “higher entrenched inflation”. Make no mistake: inflation is a [...]
Rising Inflation and Supply Chain Challenges: Will EMEA M&A Deals Be at Risk in 2022? February 17, 2022 Although 2021 set record value and volume levels for M&A both globally and in EMEA, supply chain issues were the top reasons M&A deals fell apart in 2021, according to a new survey of 200 UK-based dealmakers by Datasite. Every industry impacted Close to two-thirds (64%) of UK dealmakers said inflation affected a deal on [...]
Bank of England hikes rates for third successive meeting in bid to catch rampant inflation March 17, 2022 The Bank of England today hiked interest rates for the third successive meeting for the first time since 1997 as it tries to catch up with rampant inflation that is threatening to derail the UK economy. Rate setters at Threadneedle Street sent borrowing costs 25 basis points higher, taking them to pre-pandemic levels of 0.75 [...]
Andrew Bailey fell asleep on inflation and now it is workers who will face the flames February 17, 2022 Is there a comfortable chaise longue in the office of Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England? I think we should be told. Because it has become apparent that the Bank has been asleep on the job. In the year to December 2021, consumer prices rose by 5.4 per cent. We have to go [...]
Boris Johnson’s plan for 50-year mortgages is outright ‘risky’ and solely aimed at inflating the market, warns property guru July 5, 2022 Boris Johnson’s latest proposal for the housing market is “another risky, spontaneous announcement aimed at temporarily inflating the housing market” according to the boss a major property firm. David Alexander, the chief executive officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, part of the Lomond Group, told City A.M. today he believes that the comments from the Prime [...]
As inflation pushes up prices, businesses should only hike them where it really counts April 13, 2022 Just as the impact of the pandemic was subsiding, inflation has risen to its highest rate since March 1992 – hitting 5.5 percent in January 2022. The Bank of England has projected that inflation will hit 7 percent by the spring. From freight rates to oil to furniture and groceries, prices are increasing dramatically. Many [...]
Used car prices continue to soar despite sky high inflation rates February 15, 2022 Sky high inflation rates have yet to hinder the exponential growth of the used car market, as prices continue to grow for the 93rd consecutive week. According to Auto Trader figures, prices have registered a 29 per cent like-for-like increase on the same period last year, going up to an all time high of £20,340. [...]