Category archives: News in Review

“This is a moment of consequence and peril for the world” Last Thursday, major news broke as Joe Biden ordered an unprecedented release of crude oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves to tame rising energy costs. In an attempt to combat what the US President branded “Putin’s price hike,” he issued the release of one […]

“The government will support the British people” Rishi Sunak opened the Spring Statement on 23 March by speaking about his admiration for the Ukrainian people, commending the strength of the UK economy to help fund their army and impose sanctions on Putin’s regime. The Chancellor warned that actions against Russia are costly and present a […]

‘The economy has recently been subject to a succession of very large shocks’ Last Thursday, as highly anticipated, the Bank of England (BoE) announced the third increase in Bank Rate in four months, placing more pressure on household finances. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voted by an eight to one majority in favour of […]

“At the Spring Statement, Rishi Sunak has to make a huge judgment call” With a week to go until the next fiscal event in the government’s calendar – the Spring Forecast Statement on 23 March – new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has highlighted its belief that the Chancellor has some big […]

‘The situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty’ Last week, as the invasion of Ukraine entered a second week, the President of the World Bank declared the situation “a catastrophe” for the world. Although David Malpass stressed his biggest concern is “about the pure human loss of lives” he also […]

“The UK is announcing the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen” ‘Freedom Day’ in England was overshadowed last Thursday as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, with troops attacking the country from the north, south and east. The European Union hailed the invasion as one […]

“Falling COVID cases and the slow return to offices offer further hope for town and city centres” Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin swept the country over the last week or so, causing major disruption. With trains and flights cancelled, schools and venues closed, people were urged to avoid travel and to stay at home. The […]

“GDP grew robustly across the fourth quarter as a whole” With the dust settling on the recent rise in Bank Rate and an increase in springtime inflation expectations, some positive news was released at the tail end of last week in the form of Q4 GDP data. The official statistics from the Office for National […]

“I’m afraid we do have to raise Bank Rates… This is a lot of pressure on households” Financial announcements came thick and fast last week, impacting household budgets and living standards for millions across the UK. As anticipated by many economic commentators, on Thursday the Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase Bank Rate from 0.25% […]