Germany to double net borrowing for 2021 after suspending budget rule November 27, 2020 Germany will double its initially planned borrowing for 2021 to help finance businesses hit hard by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers said Friday morning. The parliamentary budget committee has agreed to a debt of €180bn (£160bn), almost twice the originally planned €96bn (£85bn). This is the second largest amount of net borrowing [...]
Eurozone economic confidence slides amid soaring Covid cases November 27, 2020 Economic confidence fell sharply in the Eurozone in November, a new survey has shown, as the bloc grappled with soaring coronavirus cases and countries put in place economically damaging restrictions. The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator dropped 3.5 points to 87.6, having recovered sharply in the summer after the lockdowns of the spring. It comes [...]
Tiered lockdowns spread gloom over UK services sector November 27, 2020 Firms in the UK services sector became much more gloomy in the third quarter of the year as the Covid “second wave crashed”, after optimism picked up in the summer when cases were falling, the latest CBI survey has shown. The consumer services sector was particularly downbeat, with the pandemic hitting business harder than in [...]
Coronavirus set to be ‘way less’ damaging than 2008 crash: IFS November 26, 2020 The hit to the UK economy from the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be “way less” than the impact of the financial crisis should the budget watchdog’s predictions come true, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday said the economy would likely end up three [...]
BoE boss says Rishi Sunak right to spend big on Covid November 26, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey backed chancellor Rishi Sunak’s approach to the public finances, saying he is right to throw the might of the state behind the coronavirus suppression effort. “It is absolutely sensible that public resources, resources of the state, are being used to cushion the huge impact of this absolutely unprecedented shock,” [...]
IFS says Sunak likely to end up spending more than planned November 25, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is likely to end up spending more than he said he plans to in his spending review today amid “lasting damage” to the economy, the leading Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank and other experts have said. Sunak today said he would ramp up public spending to tackle coronavirus next year [...]
Sunak’s tough choices: a sobering assessment November 25, 2020 Rishi Sunak’s spending review was a sobering assessment of not only the challenges facing the UK economy, but also the enormous economic damage created by the pandemic and the numerous lockdowns around the country, with the budget deficit for 2020 expected to come in at £394bn. The Chancellor said that the UK economy was likely [...]
UK borrowing to hit record £394bn as economy shrinks 11.3 per cent November 25, 2020 Government borrowing is set to soar to a peacetime record of £394bn this year while the economy will contract at the fastest pace since the 1700s thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, according to bleak predictions from the UK’s budget watchdog. The figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show that unemployment is expected to [...]
Spending review live: Sunak pledges cash for city centres and transport but aid and public sector pay cut November 25, 2020 Spending review live: Sunak pledges cash for city centres and transport but aid and public sector pay cut
HMRC: 2.7m people still on furlough at end of September November 25, 2020 Around 2.7m people were still on furlough in the UK at the end of September, HMRC has estimated, as the UK’s incomplete economic recovery was knocked back by rising coronavirus cases. HMRC said the arts, recreation and entertainment sector had the highest proportion of workers on furlough, at 23 per cent. Food and accommodation was [...]
