Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and chief wonk Huw Pill admit they botched inflation forecasts May 23, 2023 Top officials at the Bank of England today admitted they have undershot the strength of inflation, with governor Andrew Bailey confessing the central bank has some “very big” lessons to learn over how it sets interest rates. MPs on the influential treasury select committee slammed members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) for failing to [...]
Swelling debt interest bill fashions second highest April government borrowing on record at £25.6bn May 23, 2023 A near £10bn debt interest bill helped to push UK borrowing to the second highest monthly total for April since records began in 1993, official figures out today reveal. The government took on an additional £25.6bn of debt last month, above market expectations and up from £13.7bn in the same month last year, according to [...]
IMF ditches UK recession call and lifts GDP growth from bottom of G7 May 23, 2023 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today joined the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England in admitting they were wrong to forecast the UK will suffer a tough recession this year. The globe’s lender of last resort in fresh forecasts hiked its gross domestic product expectations in 2023 to 0.4 per cent. It previously [...]
Yes, inflation will fall – but back to Bank of England target? Well, that’s anyone’s guess May 23, 2023 Inflation is definitely on its way down, but no thanks to the Bank of England – well, yet. Most of the drop will be driven by energy price rises falling out of the ONS’s numbers. Tomorrow’s figures are poised to start that descent, with the rate of inflation probably falling to around eight per cent [...]
Amount of time it takes to hire workers drops to seven year low of just over a month May 23, 2023 The amount of time it is taking businesses to hire staff has slimmed to its lowest level in seven years in a sign friction in the jobs market is beginning to unwind, new research out today shows. Employers left roles advertised on job boards on average for 37 days over the last year, down from [...]
US could default in just a couple weeks unless debt ceiling is raised, Goldman Sachs warns May 22, 2023 The US could run out of cash to pay its lenders as soon as 8 June unless policymakers agree to lift the debt ceiling, top Wall Street economists have estimated. It is expected that the emergency measures the US Treasury has been leaning on to meet its short-term debt obligations could run dry in just [...]
FTSE 100 close: NatWest lifts after government stake sale as Burberry and JD Sports bump London index May 22, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 started what will be a quiet week in decent style today, driven higher by investors piling into Britain’s largest retailers. The capital’s premier index jumped 0.21 per cent to 7,773.49 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, edged lower to [...]
Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s profit tax rise to hit investment, survey finds May 22, 2023 Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s corporation tax hike is poised to squeeze the UK economy by mothballing investment, new figures out today show. Nearly half of all mid-sized companies intend to shelve big spending projects due to the Chancellor and Prime Minister snatching a greater share of company profits, according to consultancy BDO. Last month, [...]
Pint pourers pocket 11.3 per cent pay rise beating UK average amid staff shortage May 22, 2023 Pub workers are raking in some of the biggest pay rises in the UK caused by landlords stepping up benefits in a bid to lure and retain staff, new figures out today show. Wages for people working in the country’s drinking holes climbed 11.3 per cent over the last year, higher than the hospitality sector’s [...]
UK inflation poised to slip out of the double digits to lowest level in over a year May 22, 2023 UK inflation is poised to tumble to its lowest level in over a year in what is expected to begin a steady descent from its multi-decade highs, new figures out this week are likely to reveal. The rate of price increases in April is tipped to have dropped markedly to 8.2 per cent last month, [...]
