As quarterly figures show bank lending for businesses and homeowners fell by £2.4bn at the end of 2012, Vince Cable suggests the funding for lending scheme may need “adapting”.
The EU has proposed a cap on bankers’ bonuses. But there have been warnings that it will drive bankers away from the EU – and push up fixed salaries, as Economic Editor Faisal Islam reports.
Chancellor George Osborne insists he will not change course despite Moody’s downgrading of Britain’s prized AAA credit rating, which caused the pound to fall to a 31-month low against the dollar.
Does losing our AAA credit rating really matter? Faisal Islam argues that the UK is in a different position to the US and France which have already suffered the same fate.
The Office of National Statistics reports a budget surplus of £11.4bn, boosted by tax receipts and the first payment of interest from the Bank of England’s quantitative easing program.
Even with some fiscal hocus pocus that gives the Treasury an extra £3.8bn, government borrowing in the year to date is still worse than this time last year. And that should worry the chancellor.
The governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, says the economy is recovering but inflation will be higher than previously forecast.
With the words “flexible inflation target” peppering his Treasury select committee hearing, new Bank of England Governor Mark Carney clearly wants to do more to help Britain’s contracting economy.
In a wide ranging debate the incoming Bank of England governor says he is open to changing UK monetary policy, but that he favours flexible inflation targets – and defends his £800,000 pay packet.
Jon Snow
Amid the slurry of excessive bonuses and the exploitation of unsuspecting small and medium-sized businesses, the government has had a dramatic change of heart on banking.
Great things are expected of Canada’s Mark Carney, the new Bank of England governor. But questions are now being asked about the health of the economy he leaves behind.
With Britain in danger of plunging into its first triple-dip recession, should consumers start “behaving irrationally” and consider buying a new bathroom as a way to boost the economy?
Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, says it is time to review inflation targeting and describes the UK economy as a patient that needs reviving. Faisal Islam reports from Davos.
Jon Snow
On the markets, it’s all about junk bonds in the race to make a quick buck. But isn’t this the market that has just experienced the worst financial meltdown in memory?
Bank of England governor-elect Mark Carney’s recent comments suggest an acceptance of higher inflation. So what are his plans for the UK economy?