Recently, there has been much debate about the direction of monetary policy. Should we make monetary policy ‘looser’ – expansionary monetary policy through quantitative easing / lower interest rates in order to boost growth and reduce unemployment. Or should we consider ‘tightening’ monetary policy – higher interest rates, no quantitative easing in order to reduce …
The Chancellor recently spoke on the Andrew Marr show. G.Osborne said of the UK economy: “We are getting on top of the deficit… They are difficult times for the British economy; it’s a difficult time for the world economy, but our economy is healing. We have to do more and we have to do it …
Readers Question: Whose is to blame for the continued UK recession? With the banking crisis and economic recession, politics seems to be currently dominated by a ‘blame’ game – trying to work out whose fault it is. Unsurprisingly, the coalition have tried to shift blame on to Euro crisis and banks. Others have blamed the …
A report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests the NHS will need an extra £20 billion of funding by 2020. The NHS already accounts for 23% of government funding, and is one of the few departments to be protected from budget cuts. But, in the age of austerity, spending commitments imply flat real spending …
Italy has struggled to reduce national debt as a % of GDP since government debt has risen to over 100% of GDP in the late 1980s National Debt Italy Italy has the second highest public sector debt in Europe, after Greece. The IMF predict public sector debt of 123.4 % of GDP in 2012. By …
In 2012, the Pound has strengthened against the Euro – reaching a level not seen since 2008. However, the value of the Euro to Pound is still less than the peak of late 2007, when £1 reached €1.4. In June 14th, 2012 £1 = €1.24 Euros. An increase since the start of the year when …
Readers Question:Do you really think the UK will keep the AAA credit rating for say the next 2 years? The UK is one of the few countries to have a AAA credit rating. (list of countries with highest credit rating) I’ve always felt that the UK should be able to maintain its AAA credit rating …
For the past several months, the governor of the Bank of England has had to write a letter to the Chancellor explaining why UK inflation has been above the government’s target of 1-3%. April 2012 gives the first on target inflation figure (1-3%) since Dec 2009. Core inflation which strips out energy and food has …