In February 2022, western economies imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions were wide-ranging including banning exports of many goods to Russia, freezing Russian foreign reserves and recently the EU has proposed banning Russian oil exports. In response, Russia has retaliated by cutting off gas supplies to Europe causing …
Interest rates are a tool of monetary policy. When the economy is overheating, the Central Bank can raise interest rates to cool demand and avoid an inflationary boom. In an ideal world, the Central Bank would make small adjustments in interest rates to fine-tune the economy and avoid booms and busts, but the situation the …
As the chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was announcing his radical budget of energy bailout, and tax cuts for corporations and high-income earners, the markets took a dim view. Sterling fell and bond yields on government debt rose as investors sold UK bonds in response to the deteriorating outlook. Uniquely for such a large change of …
The UK government faces a perilous situation. In the short-term, there is a combined threat of an energy crisis, high inflation, risk of an imminent recession and a falling value of Sterling. On top of that, there are long-term problems such as climate change, a slowdown in growth and productivity, and rising debt to GDP. …
An examination of UK house price affordability. UK House price to earnings ratios (all buyers) reached a peak in 2022. Above the 2009 peak, which preceded the housing price falls. The house price to earnings ratio is most extreme in London, with the ratio reaching 11 times salary. Housing prices in the North, Scotland and …
Earlier this year, the World Bank warned up to 40 nations are at risk of defaulting on their sovereign debt. Already Sri Lanka, once hailed as an economic jewel, has badly defaulted as the country slides into economic turmoil. But, the bank warns many others, such as El Salvador, Ghana, Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya and Argentina …
Historical Interest Rates in UK since 1800 Interest rates in the UK since 1800. Bank Rate 1830–1972 and 2006–09, Minimum Lending Rate 1972–81, London clearing banks’ base rate 1981–97, repo rate 1997–2006. End year observation.
The EU relies heavily on Russia for the import of natural gas – around 40% of all natural gas at the start of 2022. Since June 2021, there has been a 60% cut in Russian gas, and this has caused considerable distress in the form of higher prices, inflation, lower economic growth and potentially devastating …