Monday 5 January 2009

No gold medals for UK's economic performance as hopes turn to ashes

Independent
"...while the global downswing is partly a trade-related issue, it is mostly being driven by the spreading tentacles of the credit crunch. These seem to have an uncanny knack of reaching into any economic crack and crevice, no matter how far away they are from the world's major financial centres."....there's now a serious risk of debt deflation." ....The lack of clarity over policy is particularly disturbing." ...In the UK, however, the room to manoeuvre is seriously curtailed."
Then,......., there's the nuclear option of printing money and getting the Government to spend it. If there's a perceived shortage of money, the printing press is the most obvious way of shifting people's beliefs." ....the Bank of England will find itself moving back to a world of opacity. Rather than merely placing a gentle hand on the interest rate tiller from time to time, the Monetary Policy Committee will have its work cut out explaining how these peculiar policies are supposed to work. That will be no easy task."
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Weakness of pound a further blow for retailers
"Retailers engaged in the biggest discounting frenzy in memory are facing the further nightmare of sharp increases in the prices they will pay for products in 2009 following the fall in the value of sterling." (Telegraph)

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