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March 5, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
A report that has been produced for the electricity industry by the Electricity Networks Strategy Group (ENSG), chaired by the Department of Energy and Climate Change and industry regulator Ofgem, has concluded that vital work and investment in the National Grid is needed, as well as an innovative proposal for high-voltage sub-sea cable links between Scotland and England.
The plans which are to ...
by Peter Charalambous
The Bank of Canada has cut interest rates as expected to the lowest on record, which is a further indication that the Bank of Canada may be using a different policy rather than just cutting interest rates in order to stimulate growth.
The result of the cut is that the currency has reached a three-month low ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the Nationwide Building Society consumer confidence in the UK was hovering at its lowest levels in over four years in February as the recession continued, along with heavy job cuts.
Ahead of the worst result since the data began back in 2004, the index of sentiment increased to 43 from 41 the previous month.
According to the survey, which polled ...
March 4, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
According to a poll conducted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and consultants KPMG, in this recession more high-ranking jobs are at risk than ever before.
Employers are continuing to be very cautious and have maintained the recruitment freeze in the current climate as job vacancies have fallen at their steepest rate in February for more ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the Markit Eurozone Purchasing Managers Services Index, new business in the euro zone services sector has fallen dramatically in February. It accounts for a large section of the economy so this is likely to spell bad news for job losses which are set to reach record levels.
Ben May at Capital Economics in London has said that ...
by Peter Charalambous
An unexpected glimmer of hope has emerged in the US as consumer confidence and consumer spending is now on the up, as for the first time in seven months consumer spending has increased with January being a very positive month as American consumers were able to take advantage of heavy discounts.
Analysts have indicated that this increase is likely to be unsustainable to ...
by Peter Charalambous
As the current economic downturn has affected consumer confidence and halted consumer spending, European inflation has remained close to its lowest rate since 1999, although there has been a sharp increase in February.
Euro-zone inflation across the 16 countries experienced a 1.1 percent rise in January and this in turn has heightened the case for the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut interest rates tomorrow.
Within ...
by Peter Charalambous
Even though the global economic outlook still remains weak, Australia's central bank has left interest rates unchanged in an unexpected move so it remains at 3.25 percent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Glenn Stevens, has said that the economy was still in a strong position to ride out the downturn and by being in a stronger position than many of ...
by Peter Charalambous
Top General Motors (GM) executives have warned that the European divisions of the US based firm are within weeks of collapse if European governments do not step in and help with a bailout.
GM Europe includes Saab in Sweden, Vauxhall in Britain and GM's German brand Opel.
Fritz Henderson, GM’s chief operating officer, has called on governments to take immediate action ...
by Peter Charalambous
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects have been earmarked in London to build new prisons, schools and homes, however they are now subject to a £13 billion rescue plan by the government as they have all been threatened by the credit crunch.
The Treasury Chief Secretary, Yvette Cooper, confirmed that up to £13 billion will be injected into a number ...
March 3, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
In his latest interview Chancellor Alistair Darling has said that the Bank of England (BoE) could begin using newly created money this week to buy assets and increase the money supply in the economy.
There is likely to be a queue of banks who are hoping to take advantage of the Government's Asset Protection Scheme (which insures against ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the former Bank of England (BoE)Deputy Governor, John Gieve, UK interest rates will need to rise before economic recovery can begin, due to the need to protect against a sudden rise in inflation.
In a recent interview he warned that there are a number of very tough decisions ahead in that eventually the bank will have to ...
March 2, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
Mortgage lending plummeted by over 60% during January to just one tenth of its level a year ago.
According to the Bank of England, net mortgage lending was £690 million during the month, compared with £1.79 billion in December, which has meat that mortgage lending has fallen by 60 percent in January, and is now running at 10 percent of its ...
by Peter Charalambous
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) who gave Pakistan a $7.6 billion bailout have now agreed with Pakistan's top economic policymaker that there is now scope to cut interest rates.
Shaukat Tarin, finance adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, announced that they had successfully managed to convince the IMF that inflation is on the way down and that an agreement ...
by Peter Charalambous
Following accountancy firm KPMG's latest quarterly business confidence survey, 81 per cent of senior executives polled indicated that they believed the economy has not yet hit rock bottom and will get worse before it gets better.
The latest figures represent a marketable fall over the last three months as previously 60 percent of respondents indicated that the economic outlook was poor.
The ...
by Peter Charalambous
Property data company Hometrack, who have been running a monthly survey for over 8 years, has found that house prices in England and Wales fell by 0.8 percent in January and are currently 10 percent lower than this time last year.
The Hometrack survey is based on estate agents' and surveyors' estimates and when compared to mortgage lenders’ data, ...
by Peter Charalambous
According to the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF), manufacturing in 2009 is going to experience the biggest drop in output since 1980 and 140,000 skilled workers are likely to lose their jobs.
A quarterly trends survey, conducted by the EEF, has revealed a sharp decline in manufacturing activity since the end of 2008 and the ...
February 27, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
According to the latest survey by Nationwide, it seems as though the hope that was in place of a recovery in January has been dashed by February’s figures as the housing market has not yet hit rock bottom.
It seems as though the worst is yet to come as the average house price fell by 1.8 per cent during the month, ...
by Peter Charalambous
Judges have ruled that the overdraft charges of up to £38 that are made for unauthorised overdrafts should be tested for fairness which means that there are over a million banking customers who have now taken a step closer to getting refunds.
The Court of Appeal has rejected the banks’ claims that the charges were part of the central agreements with ...
February 25, 2009
by Peter Charalambous
Rail operators have pleaded with the government to override pricing rules as deflation is now looming, although for the first time since privatisation train companies are likely to be forced to cut the price of season tickets and off-peak fares.
This is likely to result in train companies having to cut services as well as jobs, and for those operators who are ...
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