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November 21, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
Last month the Bank of Japan cut its benchmark interest rates from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent, which meant that the country had the lowest interest rates among the world’s major economies, and despite expectations being towards a further rate cut, it would have left little room for manoeuvre.
As a result Japan's central bank kept its key rate ...
November 20, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
Last month Japanese exports experienced their biggest decline in seven years which has resulted in the second largest trade deficit in three months.
It is clear that this is a worrying situation, due to the fact that it is very rare for Japan to experience trade deficit at all, and this is further confirmation that the economy is in recession, ...
by Peter Charalambous
It is hoped that Chancellor Alistair Darling may help the nation’s small and medium-sized companies’ credit which would be the first signal that the £37bn bank bail-out has not been a success in helping the real economy.
It is both predicted and hoped that the Chancellor is going to bring in measures that will help companies to protect themselves against the loss ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to Finance Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s economy is in a position to bounce back in 2009 with a predicted 9 percent growth, as measures have been taken to ensure that the factors causing the slowdown have been mitigated.
Analysts predict that interest rates will fall and that further duty cuts will be made so that consumer spending will increase domestically.
However opposition leaders ...
November 19, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
The Bank of England policymakers have voted 9-0 towards cutting interest rates by a further 1.5 percent.
The Bank has calculated that interest rates can be cut to 2.5 percent and this may be needed if inflation is needed to be stopped falling below its target for 2009. However it seems as though the rate setters are currently still to decide ...
by Peter Charalambous
The fear of deflation in the British economy is now higher than ever with the theory that the UK could return to 1930’s style deflationary pressure, following last month’s indicators that reveal that many goods have fallen.
With the possibility of even more aggressive rate cuts, with analysts indicating rates could be slashed by 2 percent in the next few months, consumer price ...
by Peter Charalambous
With headlines splashed across UK papers earlier this week that 370,000 jobs in the capital may be lost, unemployment is set to hit almost 2 million by the start of 2009, with the economy contracting by up to 2 percent.
With business conditions and the global financial crisis only getting worse in the short term, the Confederation of British ...
November 17, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
A black hole has been left in the finances of UK savers, as well as a number of local councils and unfortunately a few well-known charities.
Following protracted negotiations by the UK and Holland over repayments, Iceland has agreed to accept liability on deposits that were held up to £16,000.
The dispute has affected the island’s financial restructuring as it put a halt ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to a survey conducted by the Bank of France, French business confidence in October dropped to 77 from 86 in September, and was 8 points below expectations. This has resulted in the Bank predicting a contraction in the economy for the fourth quarter.
French manufacturing confidence also dropped to a 21-year low this month as the volume on new ...
by Peter Charalambous
The world’s second largest economy, Japan, has fallen into recession in the last quarter for the first time since 2001, and joins Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland, who have all experienced two successive quarters of contraction in their economy.
Analysts have indicated that it is likely to be a long and pronounced recession although the Nikkei 225 stock average responds by finishing up by ...
November 14, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
Following the fall in commodity prices and the credit crisis cooling economic growth, inflation in France has fallen.
Consumer prices are down by 0.3 percent from September and the inflation drop has been supplemented by the fall in oil, which is down by 60 percent as well as energy and food prices.
In France, inflation was at its peak between June and July of this year ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has launched a widespread appeal to policymakers to introduce more measures by pumping cash into their economies as they cut the forecast for 2009 global growth for the second time in a year.
The OECD released its latest figures in Paris yesterday and indicate that gross domestic product will fall by 0.3 percent in the 30 member ...
November 13, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
As widely anticipated the German economy had hit recession in the third quarter and this represents the worst recession for 12 years as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 0.5 percent according to the Federal Statistics Office.
The sudden and deep GDP decline has been greater than economists’ predictions who moderately expected a 0.2 percent decline.
According to Capital Economics, the research group, Germany’s ...
by Peter Charalambous
With the threat of the majority of the euro zone falling into recession the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has indicated that the 50 billion euro package that has been sanctioned to boost the German economy should be expanded.
The economy grew by 1.7 percent this year but predictions indicate that the economy is unlikely to grow in 2009.
The German ...
November 12, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
Unemployment in the UK is now at its highest level since 1997 and coupled with the fact that the claimant count has increased at its fastest rate since 1992, means that it is worrying times for the labour market.
David Kern, chief economic adviser at the British Chambers of Commerce, has said that that the labour market figures reveal the desperate situation that ...
by Peter Charalambous
Bimal Jalan, the top official at the Reserve Bank of India from 1997 to 2003, said in an interview yesterday that India needs to cut interest rates further, as the two recent reductions have not made a tangible difference to the affordability or availability of credit to consumers or businesses.
He has called for policymakers to act as necessary so ...
November 11, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
German investor confidence has increased unexpectedly during this month as a result of the interest rate cuts and the action that has been taken by the government, as well as state interventions across the euro zone and in Asia that have bolstered forecasts, although it remains below the historical average.
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment improved by 9.5 points in November to minus ...
November 10, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
According to the latest figures released by the US Labour Department, 240,000 jobs were lost last month, which is the tenth consecutive month that the US labour market has suffered.
The jobless rate now stands at 6.5 percent which is the highest rate in 14 years with 1.2 million jobs lost in 2008, although this is still within economist estimates of 8 percent.
The state of ...
by Peter Charalambous
Since the Bank of England shocked the nation with an unprecedented 1.5 percent cut in interest rates last week, the Chancellor Alistair Darling has told the heads of Barclays, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and HSBC at a meeting on Friday that they must pass on the interest rate cuts to consumers.
Having reduced interest rates to 3 percent, which is ...
November 6, 2008
by Peter Charalambous
UK house prices have continued to take a battering, as the foolproof days of investing in bricks and mortar seem to be on standby in the current economic climate. According to the Halifax, UK house prices have fallen at the fastest rate in over a quarter of a century.
Halifax have announced that the average price of a UK home ...
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