The Bank of England is likely to lower its key interest rate on Thursday and at three further meetings next year before inflation settles at the central bank’s target, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a quarterly report on the outlook for the U.K. and global economies, Britain’s leading economic research body said the annual rate of inflation will likely rise above 3% at the start of next year, from 1.7% in September.
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Rachel Reeves’ big fiscal feast risks giving the Bank of England indigestion, Reuters reported. The new Labour finance minister’s decision to hike spending, taxes and borrowing in the budget will provide a short-lived boost to growth next year. But it will also reduce BoE Governor Andrew Bailey’s ability to cut rates and keep pace with his European and U.S. counterparts. Reeves’ plan to reduce economic slack but may leave Bailey without any of his own. Her budget will raise spending by 70 billion pounds a year until 2030, according to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
The office of Official Receiver is 140 years old this year, marking a history that has evolved from administering personal bankruptcies to overseeing major company liquidations and securing bankruptcy restrictions against people who pose a threat to the public through financial wrongdoing, according to a U.K. government release. The Insolvency Service has 16 Official Receivers based across 16 locations in England and Wales, who act as trustees in people’s bankruptcies and liquidate companies that have been wound up, with the backing of hundreds of support staff.
The British government announced plans to raise the cost of university tuition fees for domestic students in England on Monday for the first time in eight years, in an attempt to improve the finances of many crisis-hit institutions, Reuters reported. Nearly half of British universities are expected to record a loss this year because of a long freeze in the price of fees and a decline in lucrative overseas postgraduate students following an immigration crackdown by the last government.
The Bank of England may extinguish hopes of a shift to quicker interest-rate cuts this week after the budget reignited inflation concerns and triggered a selloff in U.K. bonds that evoked memories of the 2022 market meltdown, Bloomberg reported. Economists and traders expect the Monetary Policy Committee to push ahead with only the second rate cut this year on Thursday, lowering the benchmark rate by a quarter point to 4.75%.
Britain’s new Labour government presented its plan to jolt the U.K. out of years of moribund growth: more taxes and a bigger state, the Wall Street Journal reported. Standing in Parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Wednesday said her government will raise taxes by £40 billion, equivalent to around $51.9 billion, one of the biggest tax hikes in a generation, and borrow billions in the coming years to invest in the country’s infrastructure.
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Gloucestershire Constabulary finance chiefs have dismissed fears they could go bust '"like Birmingham City Council" amid concerns over funding, BBC.com reported. The force said that it would not face bankruptcy as concerns grew over plans for a stark rise in debt, a recruitment freeze and a "blip" in officer leaving. According to a report by Peter Robinson, the Office for Police and Crime Commissioner's (OPCC) interim chief finance officer, the force needed to find cumulative budget savings of £7m next year, with an increase year on year.
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Thames Water Utilities Ltd. unveiled a plan Friday seeking to raise up to £3 billion ($3.9 billion) from some of its creditors as it struggles to stave off insolvency while negotiating a lasting solution, Bloomberg News reported. The UK’s largest water and sewage provider said it wants to borrow more money and extend existing debt due to mature next year. It also wants to access cash reserves to avoid running out of operating capital by early next year. Without new funds and a restructuring of its debt load of around £16 billion, the utility would likely be temporarily nationalized.
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A group of creditors that holds Thames Water’s riskiest debt is drawing up plans to provide the beleaguered UK utility with a loan of at least £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) to help it stave off insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. The holders of Class B securities have offered financing that would pay about 8% interest. It would rank senior to all of the company’s existing debt, one of the people said.
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