Page 5 - Uk Economy

British PM Rishi Sunak vows to halve inflation, tackle illegal migration

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his first major speech of 2023 on Wednesday, pledged to halve inflation, grow the UK economy and stop illegal immigration. In a speech setting out the Conservative government's priorities for the year ahead, Sunak focused on tackling the UK's slowing economy and made promises to reduce national debt. He also vowed to pass new laws to stop migrants from arriving on UK shores in small boats, as well as cut massive backlogs in Britain's public health service. "Those are the people's priorities. They are your government's priorities. And we will either have achieved them or not," Sunak said. "No trick, no ambiguity, we're either delivering for you or we're not. We will rebuild trust in politics through action, or not at all, he added. Sunak, who came to office in October after a tumultuous year in UK politics that saw the resignation of two other prime ministers, stressed that he would deliver stability. He said his first priority was to halve ...

UK inflation falls from 41-yr high to 10.7% in Nov giving relief to BoE

British inflation fell more sharply than expected in November to 10.7% from October's 41-year high of 11.1%, according to official consumer prices data

UK's economy rebounds by 0.5% in Oct but recession fears still loom

The British economy is estimated to have grown by 0.5 per cent between September and October, statistics showed, but a lengthy recession is still expected in the UK

UK manufacturers are sitting on a $29 bn pile of unfinished goods

The poll showed 72% of the 631 companies in Britain are facing the inventory logjam tied to a lack of components, materials or ingredients

UK economy shrinks 0.3% in 3 months through October as inflation soars

Britain's economy shrank in the three months through October, confirming the toll that rampant inflation and rising interest rates are having on business and industry. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell by 0.3 per cent in the period when compared with the three months through July, the Office for National Statistics said Monday. The decline came even as estimates showed GDP increased by 0.5 per cent in the month of October after a 0.6 per cent drop in September, when economic activity was artificially reduced by an extra public holiday to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Despite the rebound in October, there is still a good chance the British economy will shrink for a second consecutive quarter in the last three months of this year, according to Martin Beck, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club. Two consecutive quarters of declining output is one definition of a recession. Britain doesn't have an independent body that declares recessi

UK braces for 2 yrs of recession as manufacturing sector shrinks by over 4%

The UK's manufacturing sector shrank by more than 4% this year, a survey found, with predictions of another sharp decline in 2023

Britain nears bottom of the heap for economic growth potential: Economist

Potential output, a mixture of productivity and workforce growth, is a measure of how fast an economy can expand before generating inflation

UK firms expect to raise prices 6% in 12 months, see inflation lingering

Inflation pressures in the UK economy showed only limited signs of abating in November, with companies expecting to raise prices by 5.7% in the coming 12 months

Need to evolve; golden era of UK-China ties over, says PM Rishi Sunak

Sunak further stressed that "we cannot simply ignore China's significance in world affairs -- to global economic stability or issues like climate change"

Rishi Sunak's plea for patience leaves him under attack from all sides

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is working on a raft of policies aimed at boosting the UK's lackluster growth and bringing people back into the labor market, the officials said

UK to be second weakest performer of world's big economies next year

In its half-yearly economic outlook, the OECD said that UK's economy would expand by 4.4 per cent this year - the sixth fastest in the G20 - but contract by 0.4 per cent next year

UK starting to have second thoughts about Brexit as economy faces recession

More than six years after voting to leave the European Union, the UK is facing a prolonged recession and a deep cost-of-living crisis

UK's push to restore financial credibility means higher taxes, energy bills

Millions of people across Britain face higher taxes and energy bills after the government on Thursday announced an emergency budget focused on restoring the country's financial credibility and bolstering an economy battered by soaring inflation. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt unveiled a 55 billion-pound (USD 65 billion) package of tax increases and spending cuts designed to demonstrate that Britain is committed to paying its bills after his predecessor spooked financial markets by proposing tax cuts without saying how they would be paid for. Hunt sought to cushion the blow by pledging to protect the most vulnerable, announcing that he would increase welfare benefits and state pension payments in line with inflation and help low-income residents with their energy bills. The government will also maintain investment in energy and infrastructure projects to boost economic growth, he said. Even so, the government's fiscal watchdog warned that Britons face a painful 7 per cent fall in living

Britain is in recession, Hunt makes it official; windfall tax hiked to 35%

The tax burden would hit 37.1 per cent of GDP, its highest sustained level since World War Two

UK govt increases windfall tax on profits of oil, natural gas companies

Britain's Treasury chief says he's increasing the windfall tax on the profits of oil and natural gas companies as he announced an emergency budget aimed at restoring the nation's economic credibility and patching up its battered finances. Jeremy Hunt said Thursday that the windfall tax will rise from 25% to 35% from January 2024 to March 2028 and that electricity generators will have to pay a new temporary levy of 45%. He said the taxes combined would raise 14 billion pounds next year. Energy companies such as London-based BP and Shell have reported huge profits in recent months as Russia's war in Ukraine pushes up energy prices worldwide. Britain's government has faced pressure to increase taxes on oil and gas companies to help fund support for millions of Britons struggling to cope with soaring energy prices. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a former Treasury chief, introduced a 25% energy profits levy earlier this year but that was limited to profits made from extracting U.K. oil an

UK unveils emergency budget statement amid big demands but little cash

So many demands. So little money. Just three weeks after taking office, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces the challenge of balancing the nation's budget while helping millions of people slammed by a cost-of-living crisis as Russia's war in Ukraine pushes up energy prices and slows economic growth. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt will deliver the government's plan for tackling a sputtering economy in a speech to the House of Commons on Thursday. The emergency budget statement aims to restore the government's financial and political credibility after former Prime Minister Liz Truss announced 45 billion pounds ($53 billion) in unfunded tax cuts that torpedoed investor confidence, sent the pound to record lows against the U.S. dollar and sparked emergency central bank intervention. Truss was forced to resign six weeks after taking office. Hunt is expected to announce 30 billion pounds in spending cuts and 24 billion in tax increases, the BBC and other British media reported. The ...

Britain's inflation rate rises to 41-year high at 11.1% in October

Britain's inflation rate rose to a 41-year high in October, fuelling demands for the government to do more to ease the nation's cost-of-living crisis when it releases new tax and spending plans on Thursday. Consumer prices rose 11.1% in the 12 months through October, compared with 10.1% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The October figure exceeded economists expectations of 10.7%. Higher prices for food and energy drove October's inflation rate to the highest since October 1981, the ONS said. The new data comes a day before Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt is scheduled to unveil a new budget amid growing calls for higher wages, increased benefits and more spending on health and education as raging inflation erodes the spending power of people across the country. Those demands are complicating Hunt's efforts to close an estimated 50 billion-pound budget shortfall and restore the government's financial credibility after former Prime Minister Liz Truss's ...

UK economy shrinks, forecasters warn of many months of contraction to come

Britain's economy shrank in the three months to September, official statistics said on Friday, as forecasters warned of many months of contraction to come. The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product fell by 0.2 per cent between July and September, a smaller-than-expected contraction that nevertheless is seen to signal the start of a long recession. GDP shrank by 0.6 per cent in September, and by 0.1 per cent in August, the statistics office said. It said a decline in manufacturing output and an extra holiday to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which contributed to a notable fall in retail, were behind the decline. It said the UK economy is now 0.2 per cent smaller than in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down big chunks of the economy for months. Britain's economy, like that of many other countries, is struggling as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven up food and energy costs, pushing consumer price inflation to 40-year highs. The

Britain and Rishi Sunak

The new PM faces unenviable challenges ahead, but he is a testament to the progress Britain has made towards becoming a multi-racial society

Bank of England warns of longest recession in 100 yrs after 3% rate hike

A 0.75 per cent increase, the latest in a series of eight interest rate rises since last year, would not be enough to guarantee victory in the war against double-digit inflation: Bank of England