Articles and Whitepapers

The Bank of England has raised interest rates above 0.5% for the first time since March 2009, although this is still the first-time rates have been set at 0.75%, base rates were cut from 1% to 0.5% as part of the ongoing emergency response to the financial crisis

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at its May meeting. Markets had largely written off any probability of an increase following the BOE Governor’s BBC interview in late April where he alluded to weaker Q1 growth and Brexit uncertainty delaying the prospect of higher interest rates

Economic Growth in the UK during Q1 has been quite disappointing, with the ONS advanced estimate showing activity barely changing in the first three months of the year relative to the end of 2017, with the ‘Beast from the East’ only partly to blame!

Global growth enters 2018 on a strong footing with confidence surveys at multi-year highs in many regions and inflation expectations still tame but without fears of deflation hindering investment decisions

UK GDP increased by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in Q2, matching the second quarter estimate and the consensus however, the y-o-y growth rate was revised down to 1.5%, from 1.7%. In addition, the latest PMI survey showed a modest deceleration in the rates of expansion in UK manufacturing production and new orders