Economy

The US Federal Reserve yesterday announced its biggest interest rate rise in 22 years. Today, the Bank of England follows suit, raising rates at the fastest pace for a quarter of a century. But the biggest question remains: how successful will these hikes be at tackling inflation? The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted six to three to raise interest rates from 0.75 to one per cent. This incremental 0.25 per cent rise was broadly expected by economists – though there had been speculation in recent weeks that the Committee might move faster, after March’s headline inflation rate hit seven per cent. Notably, Committee members in the minority were calling

The Federal Reserve is playing catch-up. Today’s interest rate hike is only the second rate rise since 2018 – but it’s the first half-point rise in 22 years. As expected, the federal-funds rate – the interest rate banks use to lend to each other on a short-term basis – will rise from a target range of between 0.25 and 0.5 per cent, to a range between 0.75 and 1 per cent. After many months of insisting price hikes would be transitory, with inflation soaring to a 40-year high in the meantime, the Fed is finally acting to curb it. By historical standards, today’s hike keeps interest rates very low –

As the Prime Minister pointed out this morning, looming recession and soaring inflation are not uniquely British problems – though right now the UK economy is slowing faster than many of our rich country competitors. In the US for example, the IMF’s former chief economist Ken Rogoff has warned just today that the Federal Reserve’s official interest rate may have to go as high as five per cent to suppress rampant inflation. Which is one of the reasons I was nonplussed when the PM told Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he’s reluctant to increase universal credit and benefits and protect poorer people from the ravages of inflation

The state would be prioritised over everything else. Taxes would be constantly, if stealthily, raised. Spending would be reclassified as investment, and shifted off the balance sheet wherever possible. And macro stability would be out-sourced to the Bank of England, while the Treasury would take total control of domestic policy. A quarter of a century ago this weekend, as New Labour was swept into power in a landslide election victory, Gordon Brown, then a relatively fresh-faced Chancellor, completely overhauled economic policy. In a whirlwind week, he put in place the most far-reaching reforms in a generation. And yet, 25 years on, that consensus is still in place. Twelve years of

This week, a US economy that had been expected to grow in the first quarter of the year was recorded as having shrunk 0.4 per cent – a stunning fall, raising awkward questions about what might come next. This morning, it emerged that the Eurozone grew by just 0.2 per cent over the same period, with inflation in both the US and Europe topping seven per cent. America is ahead of Britain when it comes to the global economic slowdown For weeks now, investors in America have been spooked by the ‘inverted yield curve’: a technical term, but one which carries certain implications. When this happens (i.e., short-term government bonds

A wave of government spending would reboot the economy. Fairer taxes would pay for restored infrastructure. Skills would be improved, productivity raised, and new digital champions would emerge. When Joe Biden was elected, he promised the most radical programme of economic reform since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, and, to his army of cheerleaders at least, the American economy was about to be completely transformed. But hold on. Only a year into his term, the reality is very different from the promises. In reality, the Biden Bust has arrived. Donald Trump may have been personally obnoxious, but he bequeathed an economy in perfectly good shape The US GDP figures

Thierry Breton, the European Commission for the internal market, lost no time in rattling his sabre at Twitter as soon as it was announced that the company had accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy it. Even though Musk had made no announcement on how he intends to run the company, beyond stating his belief in free speech, Breton felt it necessary to warn Twitter that if it ‘does not comply with our law, there are sanctions – 6 per cent of the revenue and, if they continue, banned from operating in Europe.’ There is a reason, of course, for the failure of Europe to produce a tech giant Is Breton’s