UK consumer price inflation (CPI) for March remained at 2.8% in March, unchanged from February, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, released yesterday. CPI is currently at its highest level since May 2012 and has remained been above the Bank of England's 2% target since November 2009....
Interest rates are to stay at their all time low of 0.5%, as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted today against changing interest rates or a further round of quantitative easing (QE). The European Central Bank (ECB) also voted this morning to keep eurozone interest rates unchanged...
Global shale oil production could boost global GDP by up to $2.7 trillion by 2035 Shale oil production has the potential to reach up to 12% of global oil production, equivalent to almost 14 million barrels a day This extra supply could push global oil prices down by around 25%-40%...
Higher borrowing offset by an extra £5 billion of spending cuts in 2017/18 The OBR has reduced its forecast for growth in every year, bringing its projections more into line with those of PwC and other forecasters. Slower than expected growth leads to persistently higher public borrowing, but the OBR...
Public borrowing looks set to exceed OBR forecasts by around £10 billion this year. Slower than expected trend growth could cause this borrowing gap to widen in later years. Additional current spending cuts or tax rises of around 1% of GDP (£16 billion at today’s values) might be needed to...
A new assessment of how UK economic performance could be measured in large cities shows that the public believes there’s more to life than GDP, with the results suggesting that some of the traditional perceptions of a north – south divide could be outdated. The PwC / Demos report ‘Good...
In response to revised GDP figures released this morning, Andrew Sentance , senior economic adviser, PwC, said: "If we allow for the extra Jubilee holiday, the latest GDP estimate points to a flat economy, rather than decline. But other recent data, such as employment and retail sales, is more consistent...
GDP figures just released show the economy contracted by 0.5% in the second quarter of 2012 – a third consecutive quarter of decline. This is better than the 0.7% reduction estimated a month ago – but is still disappointing. So what is going on? The figures are not as bad...
In the current climate where private businesses are constantly looking at ways to save cash, our webcast explores some of these opportunities in a bit more detail, specifically focusing on the following key business change drivers: Structuring for owner managers - any business that is owner managed and wants to...
By Rachel Lund, PwC Economist Like much of the rest of the economy, growth in house prices has stalled. The two leading indices of house prices (the Nationwide and the Halifax) show that in June house prices were slightly down on a year earlier, although the rate of decline in...
