The future of Royal Mail is set to be hamstrung by surging interest payments following Daniel Kretinsky’s debt-fuelled takeover of the postal service. The £3.6bn offer from Mr Kretinsky – known as the “Czech sphinx” – for Royal Mail’s parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) risks trebling its borrowing costs …
Read More »Why Britain is leaving Europe behind on pay – and becoming more like the US
Figures from Indeed, the recruiter, show advertised salaries are accelerating in the UK even as they slowed in the eurozone. Real wages have risen by more in 12 months than they did in the previous 16 years, according to the Resolution Foundation. Regular wages are 2.4pc higher than they were …
Read More »Unrepentant Bank of England refuses to learn from its failures
Yet if it had so little impact, why did both Switzerland and Japan, which were subjected to the same external shocks but did not see anything like the same degree of money growth, have a less severe inflationary experience? In any case, the Bank of England’s latest Monetary Policy Report …
Read More »Risk of double mortgage shock as Bank warns over persistently high interest rates
Brokers said homeowners coming to the end of fixed-rate deals over the last 18 months have increasingly turned to short-term fixed-rate loans on the expectation that interest rates would soon be falling again. David Hollingworth, of L&C Mortgages, said the proportion of homeowners locking in rates for only two years …
Read More »Royal Mail accused of threatening to dock workers’ pay if they call in sick
Exclusive: The Communication Workers Union said it has had multiple reports of workers being told sick leave will be seen as ‘unauthorised absence’ for the foreseeable future The backlog of undelivered letters and parcels which has been building up for days outside the Royal Mail sorting office in Bristol ( …
Read More »Liz Truss admits mistakes on controversial tax cuts plan, but doubles down on it anyway
London CNN — British Prime Minister Liz Truss admitted mistakes had been made with her government’s controversial “mini-budget” announced last week – which sent the pound to historic lows and sparked market chaos – but stood by her policies. Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning Truss said: …
Read More »Credit card rates hit record high as banks fear customers are overspending
Credit card rates have hit a record high amid soaring inflation which has driven shoppers to borrow to cover living costs. The average annual percentage rate – or “APR” – charge on credit cards has reached 26.6pc this month, the highest since records began in 2006, according to Moneyfacts, a …
Read More »When Covid infection rates dip, inflation rates may well rise | Business
Andy Haldane caused quite a stir this month when he suggested the economy was like a coiled spring waiting to go off. As the Bank of England’s chief economist has discovered, it’s harder to be a Tigger than an Eeyore. Predictions of impending disaster tend to be forgotten even when …
Read More »U.K. Inflation Ticks Higher on Its Way Toward BOE’s 2% Target
Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg U.K. inflation unexpectedly accelerated in January, in what economists say is the first step toward a significant increase that could bring the rate close to the Bank of England 2% target later this year. Prices climbed 0.7% from a year earlier, boosted by the …
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