Headlines

U.K. disposable incomes are set for their biggest drop in a decade next year as rising inflation, tax hikes and tighter monetary and fiscal policy put the squeeze on consumers, according to Credit Suisse, Bloomberg News reported. The bank predicts a 1.5% drop in real disposable incomes in 2022, the biggest fall since the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2011. That will in turn damage the prospects for economic growth, analysts including Sonali Punhani wrote in a note. The forecast is the latest sign of concerns around a looming crunch in the U.K.

Post-Brexit tensions have crystalized into a worsening fight over Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. to share a land border with an EU country, which is Ireland, the Associated Press reported. Under the most delicate and contentious part of the Brexit deal, Northern Ireland remains inside the EU’s single market for trade in goods, in order to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland. That means customs and border checks must be conducted on some goods going to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K., despite the fact they are part of the same country.

A collapse in cryptocurrencies is a "plausible scenario" and rules are needed to regulate the fast-growing sector as a "matter of urgency", Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Risks to financial stability from the application of crypto technologies are currently limited, but there are a number of "very good reasons" to think that this might not be the case for very much longer, Cunliffe said. "Regulators internationally and in many jurisdictions have begun the work.

Mexico’s consumer prices are rising at a phenomenal pace and might not peak until the end of 2021 or early 2022, requiring an appropriate response by policy makers, central bank deputy Governor Jonathan Heath said, Bloomberg News reported. Both internal and external supply shocks have led to an upward inflation trend, leaving no room for expansive monetary policy, Heath, one of the five Banco de Mexico board members, said on a Grupo Financiero Banorte podcast released Wednesday.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday said she expects advanced economies to reach their target of shifting $100 billion of $650 billion in newly created emergency reserves to countries in need, Reuters reported.

Money changers in Turkey will be required to record the identities of their clients under new rules issued after the lira hit another low this week, Bloomberg News reported. Previously, only clients whose transactions were worth $3,000 or more were asked to submit personal information. “This new practice aims only to reduce informality in the industry, increase the level of institutionalization and ensure compliance with international regulations,” the Treasury & Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Debt-saddled Chinese property firms took heavy fire in bond markets on Tuesday, after the poster child of the sector's woes, Evergrande Group, missed its third round of bond payments in as many weeks and others warned of defaults, Reuters reported. A wave of developers face payment deadlines before the end of the year and with Evergrande's fate looking increasingly bleak, fears are mounting of a wider crisis.

China is trying to cool its costly and dangerously debt-ridden housing market, where high prices and go-go levels of borrowing and spending are increasingly seen as a national threat. But as the troubles of a major property developer and its $300 billion mountain of debt drive a government effort to contain the peril, Beijing risks hurting a major driver of its crucial economic growth engine: home buyers like He Qiang, the New York Times reported.

Irish Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe confirmed that the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) for businesses affected by the Covid-19 crisis will be extended to the end of April, but supports from the programme will be phased out by then, the Irish Times reported. While there will be no change to the EWSS over the course of October and November, a two-rate structure of €151,50 and €203 will apply from December until the end of February, falling to €100 for March and April, Mr Donohoe told the Dáil on Tuesday as he unveiled Budget 2022.

Denmark’s government should cut more spending in its 2022 budget to prevent the “booming” economy from overheating, according to its fiscal policy watchdog, Bloomberg News reported. The Economic Councils, often dubbed the Wise Men, raised its 2021 gross domestic product growth forecast to 3.9% versus 2.9% in the spring, reflecting a swift return to pre-pandemic state after ending all economic lockdowns earlier this year. The planned tightening of fiscal policy isn’t enough, the advisory body said in a statement on Tuesday.