Business news and opinion from Evans Weir > Tag: Inflation

One of the problems with historical records is they sound grand but often end up obfuscating other historical records. The announcement by The Bank of England on 3rd November that interest rates were to rise by three-quarters-of-one-percent (0.75%) meant that this was the biggest single jump in rates for more than three decades, thirty three years to be precise. Whilst not ignoring the significance of this move, it could allow us to forget that this also brings to an end one of the longest periods of low interest rates in history.

The Insolvency Service has reported that corporate insolvencies are up by more than two-thirds on this time last year as economic pressures continue to rise. Up 67% on the same time last year, the July figures also show that the overall rate of insolvencies is up 27% compared to 2019.

So far in June every piece of news seems to have been reporting record highs or lows in economic data. Interest rate rises, low unemployment, rising inflation, high job vacancies, negative wage growth and slow or negative GDP growth tell their own stories but collectively give a very mixed picture pointing to a faltering economy.

Recent announcements regarding the increase in GDP and inflation both point towards another strong phase of recovery, but the headlines hide a slightly different story. GDP figures covering the second quarter of 2021 were incredibly positive, showing almost record growth in a single period of 4.8%. Inflation figures released around the same time and covering […]

The latest set of quarterly reports from the Government and Office for National Statistics (ONS) have once again highlighted the rather topsy-turvy nature of the UK economy at present.

With the inflation rate falling to 1.3% in December, down from 1.5% in November, will the new Governor at the Bank of England have to consider an interest rate cut as one of his first acts? The drop to 1.3% puts inflation 0.7% below the Bank’s target rate (2%) and is the lowest level it […]

In case you missed it, interest rates doubled earlier this month to their second lowest ever level… what a sentence. Expected for some time, this is the first of several ‘baby steps’ Governor Carney has been preparing us for, as The Bank of England seeks to balance spending, inflation and GDP growth. Commentators do not […]

Last month we wrote about the lost decade – the ten years since the financial crash of 2008 – and having discussed this theory in meetings with a range of SMEs it feels like the side effect of the lost decade is a numbness to economic uncertainty. That is not to say that businesses are […]

The September meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee gave the strongest signal yet that an increase in interest rates is getting closer. Whilst the September vote saw a majority remain in favour of keeping rates at its long term historic low of 0.25%, the 7-2 result belies the real situation. The statement […]