Labour’s Rachel Reeves says Conservatives are ‘playing blame game’ for UK’s economic problems
Liz Truss has been accused of being “deeply irresponsible” for threatening to tinker with the Bank of England’s mandate on the brink of a recession.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, attacked the Tory leadership frontrunner after Truss and her allies repeatedly questioned the performance of the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, and said she would review the institution’s remit.
Continue reading...Base rate raised by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75%, as Bank says inflation will hit 13% in October
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has left Britain on course for a recession lasting more than a year and inflation above 13%, the Bank of England has warned as it raised interest rates for a sixth successive time.
Threadneedle Street said it had no choice but to increase borrowing costs by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75%, blaming Russia for cost of living pressures not seen in more than four decades and a 5% drop in living standards straddling this year and next – the biggest since records began in the 1960s.
Continue reading...South of England experiencing faster recovery than north, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Visits to high streets and shopping centres dipped to below pre-pandemic levels last month, with the north of England – plus Scotland and Northern Ireland – trailing behind the south in terms of the overall recovery from Covid-fuelled gloom.
Footfall decreased by 14% in July compared with 2019, reversing gains made in April, as retailers struggled to entice shoppers amid a heatwave in the third week of the month and surging inflation.
Continue reading...As energy bills soar, survey shows almost half of homes are worried about paying rent or mortgage
More than one in eight UK households fear they have no further way to make cuts to afford a sharp increase in annual energy bills this autumn.
More than a quarter of households earning less than £20,000 worry they will be unable to cope with higher bills, with families in Yorkshire, the south-west and Northern Ireland the least confident about covering their costs, according to the latest rebuilding Britain index of 20,000 people by Legal & General.
Continue reading...Cost of living crisis comes as 19-member currency bloc beats growth forecasts in second quarter
Inflation in the eurozone reached a record high of 8.9% this month, closing the gap with the UK’s 9.4% rate.
Dearer energy was blamed for the lion’s share of the increase from 8.6% in June, as the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to hammer European economies.
Continue reading...Analysis: Inflation optimists look to falling global supply chain pressures but spiking energy prices suggest we haven’t reached a plateau yet
Some economists have tipped that the inflation rate has started to plateau, even after the Australian consumer price index on Wednesday showed the fastest annual pace of inflation since 2001.
Australian prices rose 6.1% in the June quarter, the quickest pace in 21 years. Yet even in that dire news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, some economists were able to spy a silver lining.
Continue reading...Bank says number of customers in arrears at ‘low levels’ despite soaring inflation
Lloyds Banking Group has revealed it is struggling to boost profits, amid fears that soaring inflation could lead to a jump in defaults on loans and mortgages.
The country’s largest mortgage lender, which is considered a bellwether for the British economy, took a £200m charge between April and June as it put aside more money to protect the bank from potential defaults. That compares with the £374m it released during the same period last year.
Continue reading...Use this data explorer to see which goods and services are getting cheaper or more expensive in different Australian cities
Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed prices climbing by 6.1% in the June quarter – the fastest annual pace since 2001 – driven primarily by the increasing cost of food and fuel.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up global oil and gas prices as well as food, with Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest as Russian missile strikes continue on its ports.
Continue reading...Supply bottlenecks, cost pressures and softer demand hit British industry
Growth in UK factories’ order books and output has slowed to its weakest in 18 months as cost pressures, supply bottlenecks and softer demand hit British industry.
The latest update on manufacturing from the CBI found business optimism fell for a third quarter running amid signs that the strong expansion of the past year has come to an end.
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Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke
Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.
If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.
When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.
Continue reading...The group blamed rising inflation for job losses as it vows to protect shoppers from higher prices
The Co-op Group is cutting 400 jobs at its head office in Manchester as the retailer said it faced tough trading conditions amid rising inflation.
The job cuts come after the Co-op, which employs more than 63,000 people including 4,000 at its head offices, warned in April of continuing problems with food supplies and inflation after its annual profits more than halved amid supply chain disruption and higher staff wages.
Continue reading...Former chancellor says UK ‘needs to control borders’ and again references Margaret Thatcher
In an interview with GB News, Liz Truss was asked if she would keep the expensive wallpaper in the Downing Street flat, installed as part of Boris Johnson’s controversial refurbishment, if she became PM. In what is being seen by some as a dig at Johnson, she replied:
I’m not going to have the time to be thinking about the wallpaper in No 10, because we’ve only got two years until the general election – we need to hit the ground running.
Continue reading...High price of natural gas increases costs for other products including steel, cement and glass
The price of natural gas in the US has risen by nearly half in the past month, as drought and the war in Ukraine continue to bite and millions of Americans turn up their air conditioners in a heatwave.
Natural-gas futures jumped 48% this month, including 10% on Wednesday, to $8.007 per million British thermal units (btu). The rise has come as other energy costs, including oil, have begun to drop from their June peaks.
Continue reading...Annual rate in June up from May’s 9.1% figure and exceeds analysts’ expectations
Rising petrol and diesel prices for motorists and dearer food pushed Britain’s annual inflation rate to a fresh 40-year high of 9.4% last month.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the government’s preferred measure of the cost of living – the consumer prices index – was up from May’s 9.1% figure.
Continue reading...Body revises economic forecast and says outlook for EU and eurozone heavily dependent on course of war
Europe’s economy faces the twin blows of slower growth and higher inflation as it struggles to deal with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission has warned.
In its summer forecast, the governing body in Brussels said the “protracted war” was sending shockwaves through the eurozone and the wider EU, leading to a marked slowdown in activity next year.
Continue reading...The sobering numbers, caused by high energy prices, will be top of the agenda as president visits the Middle East
Another searing inflation report yesterday underscored the deep challenges facing Democrats ahead of this year’s critical midterm elections, with widespread pessimism about the state of the US economy and Joe Biden’s stewardship of it.
Inflation soared 9.1% in June compared with the previous year, a new 40-year high. The rising cost of gas, fuel and rent squeezes American households and puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further.
Continue reading...Boost in demand in June on back of jubilee celebrations fails to prevent third successive fall
Britain’s retailers are suffering the sharpest drop in spending since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic as hard-pressed consumers tighten their belts as a result of soaring inflation.
The monthly health check from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a third successive drop in activity as the cost of living crisis continued to bite.
Continue reading...Ex-chancellor to kick off his Tory leadership campaign as speculation grows over who could back him
Rishi Sunak will kick off his leadership campaign on Tuesday with a promise to grip inflation and lower taxes, as speculation mounted over which candidates could swing in behind the former chancellor.
Sunak will promise “a return to traditional Conservative economic values – and that means honesty and responsibility, not fairytales.”
Continue reading...Analysis: If Johnsonomics stands for anything, it is a lack of plan or vision to address Britain’s economic woes
Boris Johnson entered Downing Street in July 2019 with a promise. The doubters, doomsters and gloomsters were going to get it wrong again: his leadership would make Brexit a success, re-igniting an economy stalled by the divisions over Europe.
Three years later, almost to the day, he prepares to leave with the country reeling from a political implosion of his own making, and an economy teetering on the brink of recession.
Continue reading...Workers at big chains struggle to make ends meet as prices increase but their wages have not
Minerva Rodriguez has worked at McDonald’s in Houston, Texas, for more than 23 years. She is paid $12 an hour and says she is doing the work of two to three people because the restaurant is chronically understaffed. Now she, like many Americans, is facing another crisis: runaway inflation. And while she has noticed the food prices at her store have increased, pay has not.
“The wages are incredibly low and not sufficient for the work we do,” said Rodriguez, who joined the Fight for $15 and a union movement to push for higher wages and better working conditions. “They don’t want to lose that extra money. If they can have their present workers do double the job and not have to pay another worker it’s a benefit for them, but what happens with us? With food costs rising and gas prices rising, how are we supposed to live?”
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