Interest Rates

Javid mulls three-year passenger duty holiday for Flybe

Things are not looking rosy for low-cost airline, Flybe, but the chancellor Sajid Javid may have some proposals that save it from complete collapse. It is reported this morning that he is considering cutting air passenger duty on all domestic flights – a big boon for all the other airlines but also…

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Who would have thought skinny jeans could be anyone’s undoing?

It’s not often that the business pages give you a good belly laugh. But today we have the spectacle of Marks & Spencer blaming its poor Christmas trading results partly on an oversupply of skinny jeans for men. Apparently customer surveys revealed that the high street bellwether’s ranges were “too old” the…

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Bank of England puts hold on interest rates due to Brexit uncertainty

The Bank of England has placed interest rates on hold following growing uncertainty around Brexit. A vote to leave rates unchanged held by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was in favour of leaving rates at 0.75% by 9-0. Financial markets are currently indicating that rates will not rise until…

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Businesses unable to cope with interest increases, research shows

One in 25 businesses would be unable to pay off its debts if the interest rates were to increase, research from insolvency trade body R3 has shown. Some 79,000 (4%) UK companies said that a small increase would affect them financially, almost a quadrupling (20,000) of figures from previous research…

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NatWest and RBS could introduce charges for business customers

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which owns NatWest, has said small businesses could be forced to pay charges on credit balances if interest rates dip below zero. The BBC reported that 1.3 million NatWest and RBS business and commercial customers received a letter outlining the potential changes. Personal customers’ accounts will not be…

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UK inflation rate reaches 0.5% in March

The UK inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, rose to 0.5 percent in March 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics. Although the rate has increased gradually since last October – reaching 0.3 percent in February – in terms of historical context it is still relatively low.…

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UK GDP growth has increased in the second quarter

The UK recovery is well under-way with gross domestic product (GDP) per head increasing after seven years according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Growth measured at 0.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, meaning a recovery from 0.4 percent from the first three months of the year.…

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