At its February 2023 Monetary Policy meeting, the Bank of England signalled the peak in the Bank rate had been reached. What are the likely reasons for this? Ten interest rate hikes have taken the rate from 0.1% to 4%. The effect has been a housing market in sharp reverse, business failures beginning to rise, …
A look ahead to 2023
My first prediction is that I am confident that only some of the projections people make will fully capture what happens this year. One of the lessons of the last few years is that more disruptive events are occurring more frequently than before, causing more uncertainty. Some things will continue this year: technological change will continue …
Annus horribilus – yet another lost year
Optimism at the start of 2022 that, with the end of the pandemic, the UK was on the cusp of a period of robust and steady growth, was dashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. Although the headline average annual growth rate is 4%, it is highly misleading. The economy is in recession. …