The UK economy contracted in the second quarter, with households cutting spending as the cost of living crisis began to bite and health sector output falling as Covid cases and testing declined. Gross domestic product, the measure of the quantity of goods and services produced, fell 0.1 per cent in the second quarter of the […]
Category: Economy
Johnson admits UK’s cost of living support is not enough
UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Friday admitted that the government’s existing £37bn cost of living package may not be enough to support struggling households, as Liz Truss, the frontrunner to replace him, rejected calls for windfall taxes to limit the pain of rising energy bills. Johnson, who will leave office next month, said in […]
Parents cut back on children’s pocket money as UK inflation bites
Children are feeling the effect of the UK’s cost of living crunch, with almost a third of parents cutting back on pocket money. Halifax’s annual Pocket Money survey reveals that average weekly pocket money has fallen by 23 per cent, from £6.48 last year to £4.99 now. The cost of energy is the biggest worry […]
Can Europe avoid the energy bill apocalypse?
This article is an on-site version of our Disrupted Times newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox three times a week Good evening from a sweltering London European governments continue to search for ways of weaning themselves off Russian power before huge increases in energy bills hit households over […]
Martin Lewis is right: the cost of living emergency is already here
For a guy on holiday with his family, Martin Lewis looked and sounded anything but relaxed. The Money Saving Expert founder (and closest thing Britain has to a patron saint of personal finance) usually adheres to a self-imposed media embargo for two weeks every summer, but broke it following shock predictions that average energy bills […]
Ukraine’s first Black Sea food shipment sails through sea of troubles
When the Razoni left Odesa at the start of this month, the first ship to sail from Ukraine with a cargo of food since Russia’s full-scale invasion was hailed by UN secretary-general António Guterres as carrying two commodities in short supply — “corn, and hope”. But the world’s most closely monitored vessel has since proved […]
The Japan-US Alliance Embraces the Economic – The Diplomat
Tokyo Report | Economy | East Asia The advent of the new Economic 2+2 shows how closely economic issues are intertwined with security concerns. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo co-host the inaugural ministerial meeting of the U.S.-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and Japanese Minister of Economy, […]
Volvo dips in to Europe’s ‘seized up’ bond markets
Swedish manufacturer Volvo AB surprised investors this week by borrowing €500mn — a rare deal in Europe’s parched corporate bond markets that are pin-drop quiet even by summertime standards. Investors placed €3.2bn worth of orders for the deal, from the financing arm of the truck and bus maker, whose bond deal was one of just […]
How the North Korean Government Is Squeezing Foreign Currency Out of Its People – The Diplomat
Advertisement In recent years, the North Korean government has intensified efforts to collect foreign currency held by its citizens. This situation not only reflects North Korea’s lack of foreign currency, but also highlights the country’s poor performing domestic currency (the Korean People’s Won, or KPW) and, more broadly, signals that the country’s economy is in […]
FirstFT: Asset managers’ big crypto bet
This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Good morning. Big-name money managers are stampeding into digital assets, discovering ways to monetise investor interest even as trading volumes and prices for bitcoin and […]
Glencore cuts ties with Chinese trader over missing $500mn of copper
Glencore and other global trading groups have stopped supplying Chinese metals merchant Huludao Ruisheng after $500mn worth of copper went missing in a scandal that threatens to squeeze commodity financing in the country. Glencore and Geneva-based IXM have stopped supplying the Hebei-based group, according to people familiar with the matter. Glencore had also transferred some […]
Western companies wake up to China risk
A global pandemic, a major war in Europe — both were risks that seemed almost unimaginable, until they happened. Now the tensions with China provoked by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week, coming just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have forced businesses to confront the possibility that a danger long […]
Xi, Henan, and China’s Growing Financial Crisis – The Diplomat
Advertisement In July, videos of tanks supposedly rolling onto the streets of Henan circulated online, with many posts drawing comparisons to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. While the video was later refuted – the Associated Press confirmed the tanks were taking part in a military exercise in another city more than 400 kilometers away – the […]
British energy bills forecast to soar above £5,000 next year
British households face average annual energy bills surging above £5,000 next year, according to the latest forecast, heaping further pressure on the government to intervene to ease the spiralling cost of living crisis. The warning from consultancy Auxilione follows a steep rise in wholesale British gas prices this week and came as electricity generators met […]
At 75, India’s Biggest Challenge Is to Create Jobs – The Diplomat
Advertisement As India’s economy grew, the hum of factories turned the sleepy, dusty village of Manesar into a booming industrial hub, cranking out everything from cars and sinks to smartphones and tablets. But jobs have run scarce over the years, prompting more and more workers to line up along the road for work, desperate to […]
Inflation’s decline will not be as dramatic as its rise
This article is an on-site version of the Free Lunch newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every Thursday There will be no such thing as a Free Lunch next week, but Martin Sandbu will be back on August 25. The cost of shipping a 40ft steel box across […]
Soaring European gas prices will drive higher oil use, IEA forecasts
Soaring oil use for power generation in Europe and the Middle East will boost crude consumption for the rest of the year, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, as it increased its global demand forecast despite signs of a wider economic slowdown. Paris-based IEA, which is primarily funded by OECD members, said record European […]
Former Workers Sue Multinational Firms Over Alleged Malaysian Labor Abuses – The Diplomat
In this Aug. 26, 2020, file photo, a worker inspects disposable gloves at the Top Glove factory in Shah Alam outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Credit: AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File Advertisement Former workers at the Malaysian rubber glove maker Brightway Holdings have sued two foreign companies in a United States court, accusing them of “knowingly profiting” […]
Truss accused of U-turn by Sunak over help for households
Liz Truss on Wednesday vowed to do “all that I can” to help households struggling with the cost of living crisis, in a change of tone that her Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak described as a “major U-turn on the biggest issue facing the country”. The foreign secretary has said she favours tax cuts over […]
Semiconductor stocks: slowdown will not eradicate US manufacturing plans
The US chip sector is experiencing both feast and famine. This week the US signed $52bn of subsidies into law. It is a transformative level of support designed to help the expansion of domestic chip manufacturing. The timing, however, is unfortunate. Around the world, demand for chips is collapsing. With inflation in the US at […]
UK energy groups under pressure to use windfall profits for green investment
Britain’s electricity generators will face pressure from ministers to invest their “extraordinary profits” in new green energy projects, rather than paying out the windfall to shareholders. Some have made huge profits from surging electricity prices that have risen in line with the soaring cost of gas, even if the power they produce comes from renewables […]
Is China to Blame for Sri Lanka’s Debt Woes? – The Diplomat
Advertisement China has never been Sri Lanka’s biggest lender. Nevertheless, as Sri Lanka has fallen into economic woes, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, blame has turned to China. However, Sri Lankan officials have repeatedly expressed the view that China is not the source of the country’s economic woes. So what’s the real story? China […]
US inflation eased slightly in July on lower petrol prices
The US consumer price index rose by 8.5 per cent year on year in July, a slower annual increase compared with June, as inflationary pressures eased on the back of lower petrol prices. The CPI data released on Wednesday will raise hopes that the pace of price rises in the world’s largest economy has peaked […]
Chinese technology in the ‘Internet of Things’ poses a new threat to the west
The writer is director of Penumbra Analysis, a consultancy specialising in geopolitical risk and emerging technologies The UK’s move to ban Huawei from its 5G telecoms networks has brought the debate about the security threat from Chinese equipment into the mainstream. There are increasing concerns about western exposure to potentially risky technology: only last month, […]
Investors shun Pakistani bonds on rising default threat
Investors are on alert for Pakistan to follow Sri Lanka into default as the south Asian country struggles with soaring commodity prices and tighter credit conditions. Pakistan’s foreign bonds due to mature in 2024, 2025 and 2026 are trading firmly in distressed territory, at about 71, 65 and 63 cents on the dollar, respectively, according […]
Asian stocks dip as investors brace for US inflation data
Asian equity markets fell on Wednesday as investors braced themselves for the latest US inflation data, which are expected to shape the pace of future monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed as much as 2.2 per cent, while China’s CSI 300 benchmark of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks declined up […]
Taiwan security officials want Foxconn to drop stake in Chinese chipmaker
Taiwanese national security officials want to force Apple supplier Foxconn to unwind an $800mn investment in Chinese chip company Tsinghua Unigroup, as Taipei seeks to align itself more closely with the US in the face of escalating threats from Beijing. The investment by Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and the biggest private-sector employer […]
Truss rejects CBI appeal to join Johnson and Sunak to tackle cost of living crisis
Liz Truss, frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest, has rejected business pleas for her to meet prime minister Boris Johnson and rival Rishi Sunak to “agree a common pledge” on tackling the cost of living crisis. Speaking in Darlington on Tuesday during the latest hustings in front of party members, the foreign secretary pushed back […]
India Noncommittal on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment – The Diplomat
Advertisement The G-7 countries that met a month ago for the Leaders’ Summit in Germany formally launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). The PGII is an infrastructure initiative to fund connectivity projects in developing countries and is seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). U.S. President Joe Biden […]
There are reasons to be optimistic about the US economy
The writer is co-founder of Centerview Partners The US economy is slowing down. The main dispute among economists is whether we are in for a soft landing or a hard one, and the pessimistic perspective has dominated headlines. But while it is clear that we are in for a difficult period ahead, there is also […]