Category Archives: Cost of living crisis

EU tipped to avoid recession after gas crisis eases

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Economic growth forecast to be 0.8% in 2023 but households still face cost of living pressures

The EU is predicted to narrowly avoid recession as a result of a milder-than-expected energy shock, although households face difficult times ahead as cost of living pressures ease only gradually, the European Commission has said.

Economic growth for the 27 countries of the EU is forecast to be 0.8% in 2023, compared with a 0.3% projection last autumn, when fears of winter power outages and the rising cost of living ran high. In the 20-country eurozone, the economy will expand by 0.9% in 2023, boosted by a better-than-expected performance in Germany and Italy, as well as relatively stronger growth in Spain.

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ExxonMobil launches legal challenge to EU’s windfall tax on energy firms

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US oil firm contests legal authority for ‘solidarity contribution’ to raise funds to offset soaring energy prices

ExxonMobil has launched a legal challenge against the EU in an attempt to derail the bloc’s windfall tax on the profits of energy producers.

In a high-stakes political battle as countries across Europe and the wider western world struggle with soaring energy costs and sky-high inflation, the US oil firm said it believed the EU had overreached its powers with the windfall tax.

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Amazon warehouse workers stage Black Friday strikes and protests around world

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On one of firm’s biggest shopping days of year, employees demand better wages and conditions

Amazon warehouse workers in the UK and 40 other countries are to strike and stage protests timed to coincide with the Black Friday sales, one of the company’s biggest shopping days of the year.

Employees in dozens of countries, from Japan and Australia to India, the US and across Europe, are demanding better wages and conditions in a campaign called “Make Amazon Pay”.

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No ice rinks, fewer lights: Christmas markets across Europe scaled back as energy costs soar

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Cities are trying hard to keep the festive spirit amid the cost of living crisis and war in Ukraine

European Christmas markets and illuminations are scaling back due to the energy crisis and climate breakdown – ditching seasonal ice rinks for rollerskating and switching on lights for less time.

When the traditional end-of-year markets and Christmas lights launch in France and Germany this week, in many cities such as Paris they will go dark hours earlier than usual.

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One in four Europeans say their financial position is ‘precarious’

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Study by anti-poverty NGO shows more than half feel at financial risk and 80% have already made hard spending choices

One in four Europeans describe their financial position as “precarious”, more than half see a serious risk it will become so over the coming months, and 80% have already been forced into hard spending choices, according to a survey.

As the cost of living crisis, driven by high energy prices, rampant inflation and Russia’s war on Ukraine, tightens its grip, the six-country survey for the French anti-poverty NGO Secours Populaire painted an alarming picture of “a continent on the brink”.

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Row over Germany’s public transport ticket jumping from €9 to €49

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Charities warn increase in monthly local travel pass will freeze out millions struggling with living costs

Germany plans to replace its successful €9-a-month local public transport pass with a €49 version, a move that is drawing criticism from charities and social care groups who say the new price tag will freeze out millions of Germans suffering under the cost of living crisis.

The €9 pass (equating to about £7.80) was introduced as an experiment over the summer in an effort to entice people to use public transport and help counter rising inflation.

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French government to use constitutional powers to force through budget

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President accused of authoritarianism as PM puts end to days of heated parliamentary debate

The French government is to use special constitutional powers to force through its 2023 budget without a parliamentary vote, sparking accusations of “authoritarianism” from the opposition and underlining President Emmanuel Macron’s weakened domestic position since his centrist grouping lost its absolute majority in elections last spring.

“It is our responsibility to make sure our country has a budget”, the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, told parliament as she put an end to several days of heated debate over the government’s pro-business budget, which ministers said would protect people from the cost of living crisis while avoiding tax increases.

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Renting to the highest bidder: calls for federal laws to ban practice amid Australia’s cost-of-living crisis

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It’s a landlord’s market, as hundreds queue to rent properties with negotiable prices that many simply can’t afford

Peak housing bodies are calling for nationally consistent rental laws to crack down on bidding wars putting pressure on tenants in a shrinking market.

Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have introduced reforms to ban rent bidding – the process of negotiating the price of a rental by advertising a property within a “range” or without a fixed cost.

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Germany unveils €200bn help for consumers and says it won’t follow UK’s route

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Finance minister announces €200bn fund to protect citizens from rising gas prices driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine

Germany’s finance minister has vowed that he will not follow the UK “down the path of an expansionary fiscal policy” as his government announced a €200bn (£177bn) fund designed to protect consumers and businesses from rising gas prices driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Europe’s largest economy will reactivate an economic stabilising fund previously used during the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, said the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at a joint press conference with the finance minister, Christian Lindner, and the economic minister, Robert Habeck, on Thursday afternoon.

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Sydney train strikes: NSW government and rail unions to seek conciliation next week

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The union is seeking a 3.5% annual wage rise, with an additional cost-of-living supplement

The New South Wales government and rail unions will seek to resolve a long-running dispute by conciliation before the Fair Work Commission next week.

The commission’s deputy president, Bryce Cross, had initially rejected a bid by Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink applying to enter conciliation during a hearing on Friday.

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Cost of living and climate are higher global priorities than Ukraine, poll finds

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But there remains strong support in many countries for Russian military withdrawal from Ukraine, survey finds

The cost of living is ranked by most voters globally as a more important issue than liberating Ukraine from Russian occupation, but there is still strong support for a Russian military withdrawal, according to a survey showing global preoccupations.

Majorities in 16 of the 22 largest countries believe Russia should leave the territory it has occupied in Ukraine, the survey shows. The polling in 22 countries of more than 21,000 citizens also underlines the extent to which the global south is less engaged with the war in Ukraine than Europeans.

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Cost of living crisis: what governments around the world are doing to help

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From cancelling student loan debt to raising minimum wage, different strategies aim to reduce effects of soaring prices

The Covid pandemic, soaring food and fuel prices, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have dealt a triple blow to people around the world. Here is a look at what governments are doing to try to help citizens and companies weather the cost of living crisis.

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Consumer watchdog will crack down on petrol price gouging when tax cut ends, Labor says

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Federal government also confirms pension and jobseeker will rise 4% in line with consumer price index, as parliament returns

The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has asked the competition watchdog to crack down hard on any price gouging when the petrol excise cut expires at the end of September.

The letter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, released on Monday, confirms the government’s intention to reintroduce “the full excise” on 29 September. It was halved for six months in the March budget.

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EU must act now on ‘catastrophic’ energy price spike, says European Council chief

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Charles Michel says bloc must address price caps and has been too late in putting ‘concrete proposals on the table’

The EU must “make up for lost time” in finding urgent answers to an energy price spike that is a “catastrophe” for households and businesses, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has said.

Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, said the bloc needed to address the question of price caps, an idea backed by many EU member states.

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Increased migration must come with planning and expanded services, councils say

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Fairfield mayor says ‘people are suffering’ due to lack of affordable housing in migrant communities as PM pledges $575m investment

Increasing Australia’s migration intake without improving key services will increase the strain on housing, hospitals and schools as well as inflation, councils in migrant communities have said.

The Albanese government on Friday announced at its jobs and skills summit it would lifting the migrant intake to 195,000 in 2022-23, from the current 160,000 cap, addressing calls from businesses for more skilled workers to be brought in to Australia to meet shortages. A review planned for next February would set intake levels for coming years.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton labels robodebt royal commission and Morrison ministries inquiry ‘witch-hunts’

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Qantas engineers begin industrial action today

Qantas engineers will delay their shifts by one minute as an industrial action strategy, according to the ABC.

The one-minute strike is to protest Qantas’s inaction over negotiations for a 12% pay rise over four years, equivalent to 3% a year, and is designed to send a message to management: patience has run out.

The engineers’ strike over wages comes on the same day Qantas releases its annual profit results and in the same week management attempted to win back customers disgruntled over delays and lost baggage with $50 travel vouchers.

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No puppy love: post-lockdown lifestyles and cost of living are driving Australians to surrender their pets

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Animal shelters nearing capacity are encouraging people to adopt by slashing fees and hosting events to make room for other animals in need

The end of Covid lockdowns and the spiralling cost of living have left animal shelters overflowing, with organisations now forced to host adoption drives and slash their fees in an effort to get more animals out of shelters and into their forever homes.

This was in stark contrast to the high adoption rates and shelter shortages across Australia during the early days of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

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Thai instant noodle makers seek government approval for first price hike in 14 years

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Plea to government, which controls prices on some essentials, to allow rise as war in Ukraine and extreme weather drive up costs

Five major producers of instant noodles have urged the Thai government to allow them to increase their prices within a week, warning of soaring production costs affecting one of the country’s most popular grocery items.

The war in Ukraine, as well as droughts and floods over the past year, have caused the cost of wheat, energy and transport costs to rise sharply, affecting noodle prices across Asia.

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Sierra Leone rocked by deadly violence at cost of living protests

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Six police officers and at least 21 civilians killed, as hundreds take to streets in frustration at economic hardship and rising prices

At least 27 people have died in anti-government protests in Sierra Leone, police and other sources said on Thursday, sharply raising the death toll from the previous day’s clashes as shocked citizens stayed mostly behind closed doors in the capital, Freetown.

Six police officers and at least 21 civilians were killed, the sources said, as hundreds took to the streets in frustration at economic hardship and a perceived failure by the government to cushion the impact of rising prices.

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Despite Australia’s soaring inflation rate, some economists say the peak may be ‘coming into view’

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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.

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