World economy is sleepwalking into a new financial crisis, warns Mervyn King

Past crashes spawned new thinking and reform but nothing has changed since 2008 banking meltdown, says former Bank of England boss

The world is sleepwalking towards a fresh economic and financial crisis that will have devastating consequences for the democratic market system, according to the former Bank of England governor Mervyn King.

Lord King, who was in charge at Threadneedle Street during the near-death of the global banking system and deep economic slump a decade ago, said the resistance to new thinking meant a repeat of the chaos of the 2008-09 period was looming.

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Investors await signal on fresh ECB economic stimulus – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news as Mario Draghi expected to prepare central bank for interest rate cuts

It will be too late for the ECB’s interest rates decision, but the latest measure of German business confidence from the influential Ifo Institute shows that morale has sagged more than expected in July.

The closely followed measure fell to a reading of 95.7 – well below the consensus expectations of 97.1.

Boris Johnson is planning to set out his “priorities for government” in his first appearance as prime minister in the house of commons – at about 10:30am BST.

Perhaps he can shed some more light on what will be happening by 31 October, the Brexit deadline.

Following Business Qs, there will be one government oral statement in the @HouseofCommons today:

The Prime Minister - Priorities for Government

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Trade war and Brexit pose mounting risk to EU economy, says EC

European commission warns of ‘major shock’ and slashes growth forecast the union

The threat of a full-blown trade war between the US and China and Brexit uncertainty are posing mounting risks to the EU economy, the European commission has warned, after downgrading its growth outlook for 2019.

Brussels’ executive arm said a recent slowdown in global trade volumes had taken its toll across the continent, as it cut its GDP growth forecast for the 28-nation bloc for 2019 to 1.4%, down from a forecast of 1.9% in the autumn.

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