UK Economics Weekly Why interest rates haven’t hurt…yet Higher interest rates haven’t dented the real economy much because household incomes have been unusually strong and the interest rates households are actually paying on their loans has not yet risen... 9th June 2023 · 10 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Some signs that higher interest rates are working Higher interest rates appeared to have started to take a bigger toll on bank lending in April and on businesses’ inflation expectations in May. These data will have reassured the Bank of England that... 2nd June 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly BoE has to work harder to quash inflation It’s become clearer that domestic inflation isn’t going to fall while economic activity is strengthening. As such, we now think that the Bank of England will have to raise interest rates further, from... 26th May 2023 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly High migration won’t cool inflation pressures quickly Migration appears to be rebounding much faster than anyone expected. But the continued "mismatches" between workers and vacancies implies that migrants have not been effective at filling all the... 19th May 2023 · 10 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Doubting the BoE’s improved outlook for activity The most striking thing about the Bank of England’s policy meeting yesterday was the big upward revisions to the Bank’s real GDP forecasts. It makes sense that the Bank has become less downbeat... 12th May 2023 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Pound standing to attention for King’s Coronation You’d be forgiven for thinking that the pound has been caught up in the wave of Britishness ahead of the King’s Coronation this weekend. But instead the rise to a 12-month high of $1.26 has been... 5th May 2023 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly BoE should be talking tough on interest rates not wages The Bank of England’s Chief Economist, Huw Pill, came under fire this week for comments that implied businesses should stop raising their prices and workers should stop asking for pay increases . But... 28th April 2023 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Inflation a persistent problem for the Bank of England Lingering underlying price pressures and the continued resilience of economic activity has left us more comfortable than we were at the start of this week with our view that the Bank of England will... 21st April 2023 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Surge in household incomes unlikely to be sustained Some of the continued resilience of the economy has been due to the performance of household incomes, which in real terms hasn't been as weak as we expected. Some of that is due to government payments... 14th April 2023 · 10 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Rate hikes may come sooner rather than later We think the Bank of England may opt to raise interest rates further from 4.25% sooner rather than later. Our central forecast is for interest rates to rise from 4.25% now to a peak of 4.50% and for... 6th April 2023 · 9 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Banking strains will amplify tightening in credit conditions Even before the turmoil in the banking sector, UK banks were planning on sharply reducing the amount of credit available to households. The recent strains in the banking sector will amplify the... 31st March 2023 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly The two-sided risks to our rate forecasts Our view is that Bank Rate will rise from 4.00% now to a peak of 4.50% and stay there for all of this year before being cut to around 3.00% by the end of next year. But the two-sided risks to our... 24th March 2023 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Banking situation appears to be stabilising, but risks remain Even if policymakers are successful at putting a firewall around the recent problems in the global banking system, some damage to the UK economy may already have been done. And while we think... 17th March 2023 · 10 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Slimming the size of the possible recession With the hit to real activity from high inflation having been and gone and mostly absorbed by government handouts and a real terms reduction in households’ pandemic savings, we no longer think there... 10th March 2023 · 7 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Improved outlook for inflation, activity and even Brexit It may seem odd that we are revising down our CPI inflation forecast when investors’ concerns about the stickiness of inflation are growing. But the revisions are triggered by the further fall in the... 3rd March 2023 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Investors’ hawkish shift is justified We don’t think that wage growth will ease to levels consistent with the 2.0% inflation target without weaker economic activity and a rise in the unemployment rate. The recent resilience of the economy... 24th February 2023 · 5 mins read
