“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 […]
Category archives: News in Review
News in Review
“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% […]
News in Review
“The economy has recovered more quickly than expected, creating a growth dividend for the Treasury” Some interesting data was released last week, which prompted speculation as to the Chancellor’s intentions regarding the rise in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in April. The data showed that government borrowing reached nearly £17bn in December; despite this being the […]
News in Review
“It’s likely households will face a cost-of-living crunch for much of the year” The biggest economic story of last week is something impacting everyone’s pockets – inflation. Data released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday revealed that surging food and energy prices had pushed inflation to a near 30-year high of 5.4% […]
News in Review
“It’s amazing to see the size of the economy back to pre-pandemic levels” A raft of economic news landed in the last week or so, one of the most prominent being the latest UK gross domestic product (GDP) statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which highlighted that the UK economy surpassed pre-COVID levels […]
News in Review
“Although supply chains remain severely stretched, there are at least signs that the situation is stabilising” As the new year takes root, the latest IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index has highlighted an elevated level of optimism amongst UK manufacturing firms. Although supply issues and staff shortages continue to hamper growth in the sector, production rose […]
News in Review
‘2022 will be defined as the year of the squeeze’ As wages stagnate, and energy bills and taxes rise, the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook released by the Resolution Foundation has warned that millions of families face a ‘year of the squeeze’ in 2022, potentially leaving the average household £1,200 worse off. The expected rise […]
News in Review
“We’re concerned about inflation in the medium term” Last week the Bank of England (BoE) became the first major central bank to raise interest rates since the onset of the pandemic. At a meeting ending on 16 December, the Bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted by an 8-1 majority to raise rates to 0.25%, an […]
News in Review
News in Review
‘The global recovery is strong but imbalanced’ Last week saw the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publish its latest appraisal of world economic prospects. In a relatively upbeat assessment, the Paris-based soothsayer predicted that global growth will hit 5.6% this year before moderating to 4.5% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023. However, the […]