April’s lower than expected inflation rate is the first dip in UK inflation since September 2012, according to today’s data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), fell to 2.4% in April from 2.8% in March, with around half of the...
By John Hawksworth, Chief Economist The latest labour market data from the ONS showed regular pay in the three months to February 2013 up by just 1% on a year ago. Given that the latest consumer price inflation rate is 2.8%, this appears to imply a heavy squeeze on consumer...
Second homeowners and buy-to-let landlords are the targets of a new campaign by HM Revenue & Customs, determined to stamp out tax evasion. HMRC’s self-styled, "property sales campaign" is currently tracking down UK residents who sold property - other than their main residential home - but who failed to declare...
The recession is persuading motorists to let the bus and train take the strain according to the latest Northern Ireland Road and Rail Transport Statistics. While there was a modest increase in new car registrations in the last six months of 2012, these are substantially down on 2007, the statistics...
February’s data says Northern Ireland’s retail footfall jumped by 2.6% - second only to Central London – but are people actually spending or just grazing? And, according to R3, the professional insolvency body 16% of NI companies are “zombie firms” with survival reliant on the current low interest rates and...
It’s the third day of the Cheltenham festival and with 53,000 people through the turnstiles yesterday and tomorrow’s Gold Cup a sell out, this year’s racegoers are in great form. And with less than a week to go to the Budget, parliamentary punters are wondering if the Chancellor can clear...
A few years ago a couple of out of order ATM machine were just that; but in today’s world of social media instant opinion, a handful of non performing ATMs could start rumours about the health of the bank. Companies are learning the hard way that information on executive pay,...
By Richard Snook and Smita Mehta Consumer spending is a key driver of global growth. As a result, PwC has established the Global Consumer Index (GCI), which is a leading indicator of trends in the global consumer spending cycle. We first published the GCI in October 2012 and the indicator...
The administrators of The Jessop Group Limited have announced the closure of all stores as at end of trading today [Friday 11 January 2013]. This will include the three stores in Northern Ireland; in Belfast, Newry and Derry~Londonderry and the loss of 30 jobs. Edward Williams, Rob Hunt and Matthew...
PwC comments on the impact RPI for final salary pension schemes and pensioners In response to the announcement that the Office for National Statistics will not make any changes to the Retail Price Index (RPI) calculation, but will introduce a new inflation index know as RPIJ, Steven Dicker, pensions partner...
