Interest Rates

Aug- 2022 -

4 August

BoE hikes rates to 1.75%, warns UK to enter recession until 2024

The Bank of England (BoE) has raised interest rates from 1.25% to 1.75%, marking the biggest rise in rates since 1995. In its latest announcement, the BOE also projected that the UK would fall into a recession in the fourth quarter of the year, which is expected to last for…

Jul- 2022 -

8 July

Retailing

Cost of living crisis weighs on retail sales growth

High levels of inflation and the deepening cost of living crisis have prompted further slowing of retail sales growth, according to BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker (HSST). It found that total like-for-like (LFL) sales, combined in-store and online, increased by +8.4% in June compared to the equivalent month in 2021,…

Jun- 2022 -

16 June

Economy

BoE raises interest rates to 1.25%

The Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee has voted to raise interest from 1% to 1.25% – marking its fifth rise in a row as it bids to offset the impact of rising inflation. The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 6-3 to increase the rate to…

May- 2022 -

5 May

Economy

BoE raises interest rates to highest level since 2009

The bank of England (BoE) has raised interest rates to its highest level since 2009 – marking the fourth time it has taken action since December. The new rate of 1%, up from 0.75%, is the BoE’s latest attempt to curb the rampant rise in inflation – also at its…

Mar- 2022 -

17 March

Economy

BoE raises interest rates to 0.75%

The Bank of England has raised interest rates back to the pre-pandemic level of 0.75% as it tries to mitigate the effect of the rising costs of living and the impact that the conflict in Ukraine is having on the global economy. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted with a…

Feb- 2022 -

3 February

Economy

BoE raises interest rates to 0.5%

The Bank of England (BoE) has raised interest rates for the second time in three months to 0.5%, up from 0.25% previously. The BoE Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) confirmed it voted by a majority of 5-4 to increase Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 0.5%. Interestingly, it revealed those…

Jun- 2021 -

16 June

Economy

UK inflation hits 2.1% as clothing prices rise

Inflation in the UK rose to 2.1% in May, up from 1.5% in April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This increase has been fuelled by an increase in consumer spending as the British public comes out of lockdown. Meanwhile, clothing prices jumped by…

Nov- 2020 -

5 November

Coronavirus

Chancellor extends furlough scheme to March

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the furlough scheme will be extended until the end of March, amid increased measures for business support as the UK enters a four-week lockdown. Payments are set to remain at 80% of employee’s wages. It comes as the chancellor said that it was “right…

Mar- 2020 -

13 March

Business Bites

BT’s boss catches it, markets rebounding, pain medication prices spike

Today I am going to rattle through a wider selection of stories than normal because the spread of the virus is hitting so many sectors hard, with key figures in the business community affected. The markets are recovering some of their losses this morning after having their worst selloff since…

Jan- 2020 -

15 January

Business Bites

Boohoo more valuable than M&S – a sea-change encapsulated

From a purely journalistic standpoint it is now a de facto cliché to refer to Marks and Spencer as the “high street bellwether”, yet that is the status it has held for so many decades. The once mighty monolith was the first British retailer to reach a market capitalisation of £1bn and…