Pro-European Union demonstrators protest outside Parliament against Brexit on the fourth anniversary of Britain's formal departure from the European Union in London, United Kingdom on January 31, 2024.Future Publishing | Getty ImagesLONDON – Britain's post-Brexit performance has been “significantly weaker” than other advanced economies since the EU referendum in 2016, according to a new analysis by Goldman Sachs, which aims to measure the economic cost of a vote to leave the European Union.In a note last week titled “The Structural and Cyclical Costs of Brexit,” the Wall Street bank estimated that the UK economy grew by 5% over the past…
Author: ricardofrancois
Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up for myFT Digest of UK house prices – delivered straight to your inbox.UK house prices fell in the second half of 2023 driven by weakness in the London market, according to official data, underscoring the continuing pressure of rising borrowing costs.Average UK house prices fell by 1.4 per cent year-on-year in December 2023, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. This was lower than the revised 2.3 per cent fall in November 2023, but represented six consecutive months of contraction.These numbers confirm the impact of high borrowing costs that affected the real…
Inflation rose more than expected in January, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, as a persistent rise in home prices weighed on consumers.The Consumer Price Index, a broad measure of the prices shoppers face for goods and services throughout the economy, rose 0.3% during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a 12-month basis, this came to 3.1%, down from 3.4% in December.Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting a monthly increase of 0.2% and annual gains of 2.9%.Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI accelerated 0.4% in January and rose 3.9% from a year ago,…
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – China faces a confidence deficit as its economy goes through a massive transition and concern grows about the ongoing real estate crisis, a senior banking executive said on stage at the World Government Summit in Dubai.“The biggest problem China has, to me, is a lack of confidence,” Bill Winters, CEO of emerging markets-focused Standard Chartered Bank, told CNBC's Dan Murphy on Monday during a panel discussion. “Overseas investors lack confidence in China and domestic savers lack confidence.” They lack confidence.”“But I think China is going through a big transition from the old economy to the…
Kristalina Georgieva, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, at a press conference at IMF headquarters on April 14, 2023.Kevin Deitch | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesDubai, United Arab Emirates – The head of the International Monetary Fund warned that the Russian economy still faces significant headwinds despite receiving a recent growth upgrade from the Washington-based institution.The Russian economy has proven surprisingly resilient amid waves of Western sanctions in the nearly two years since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.In late January, the International Monetary Fund more than doubled its forecast for the pace of economic growth in…
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, rl), Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/Greens), Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, and Christian Lindner (FDP), Federal Minister of Finance, follow the discussion at the beginning of the budget week.Michael Kapler | Image Alliance | Getty ImagesThere was little good news for the German economy. The latest economic data has done little to change this situation.Some key data points for 2023 – factory orders, exports and industrial production – were released last week and signaled a weak end to the year that has seen questions emerge about Germany being the “sick man of Europe”.“The…
People shop at a supermarket in the Manhattan borough of New York City on January 27, 2024.Charlie Tripalo | AFP | Getty ImagesPrices paid by consumers in the market rose at a slower pace than originally reported, according to closely watched revisions released by the government on Friday.The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said updates to the Consumer Price Index showed that the broad basket of goods and services increased by 0.2% on a monthly basis, lower than the original reading of 0.3%.While the change is modest, it helped confirm that inflation was moderating towards the end of 2023,…
Stay informed with free updatesSimply subscribe to our UK myFT Digest – delivered straight to your inbox.Over the past few years, UK policymakers have explored the idea of a mortgage with a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan, similar to the long-term products offered in countries such as the US or Denmark. Their supporters say they provide borrowers with certainty and help them pass mandatory affordability tests, especially those buying their first home. Critics say that in a period of low interest rates, there is little appeal to it.Some lenders have begun offering such products.FT Money is…
Many Chinese developers have halted or delayed construction of previously sold homes due to cash flow problems. Pictured is a property construction site in Jiangsu Province, China, on October 17, 2022.Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesChina's economy is faltering.Its real estate market is collapsing, deflationary pressures are spreading across the country, and the stock market has weathered a turbulent ride so far this year, with the country's CSI 300 index losing about 40% of its value from its 2021 highs.To make matters worse, January PMI figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed manufacturing activity contracted for…
Mosaic collection of world currencies.Frankvandenberg | E+ | Getty ImagesEconomist Arthur Laffer Jr. warned that the world is facing a debt crisis that will extend over the next ten years, and that it will not end well, as global borrowings reached a record level of $307.4 trillion last September. Both high-income countries and emerging markets have seen their debt piles rise, which has grown by $100 trillion over the past decade, fueled in part by the high interest rate environment. “I predict the next 10 years will be the decade of debt,” Laffer, who is president of investment and wealth…