My Q: can you see any reason the ECB can’t do a version of QE for Greece? Not necessarily the US/UK way of buying bank bonds and hoping; there may be other ways? But if they could do it somehow, interest-free, so that the new money gets out into the economy, with the proviso that …
Latest economic stats for economic growth in the European Union Real GDP growth in 2012 -0.6% Growth in Q1 2013 -0.2% Latest at Eurostat Euro 17 GDP UK vs Euro GDP Source: ONS – ECB Economic growth within different EU countries Note figures for 2013 and 2013 are forecasts (in my opinion OECD are being …
Despite a shrinkage in manufacturing and widening trade deficit, the IMF have hinted that the UK economy is beginning to emerge from one of the longest periods of economic stagnation / recession on records. They marginally increased their forecast for UK growth to 0.9% for 2013. Does the recent good news give hope to the …
There is mixed evidence about the success of the Funding for Lending scheme Firstly, there is evidence that credit is still tight and firms are struggling to gain finance. Since last August, £1.8bn of credit has been drained out of the system At the same time, up to 40 lenders have accessed the £16.5bn in …
In the past few years, Central Banks have been buying bonds to Increase money supply Reduce bond yields The aim of quantitative easing is to avoid deflationary pressure and increase economic growth. Ending quantitative easing will mean The Central Bank stop buying any more bonds. The process will then be reversed and, in time, the …
When interest rates were cut to 0.5% in March 2009, few would have expected them to remain at 0.5 until the present time. Yet, we have seen an unprecedented period of zero interest rates. There is much speculation about: When interest rates will rise? How much will interest rates to increase to? What will be …
Securitisation involves changing loans into tradeable bonds. Securitisation can increase the liquidity of banks and enable banks to engage in more lending than previously. Securitisation was a factor in the credit crunch because it enabled banks to lend more than usual. When there was a shortage of credit in the banking system, banks became over-exposed …
In a previous post, we saw how bank lending in the UK fell during the credit crunch, contributing to the length and depth of the recession. Because of this the Bank of England and Government have sought to try and increase bank lending – in order to help stimulate economic growth. Fall in bank lending. …