Rising inflation predicted by public
Consumers expect living costs to rise still further over the next year, Citigroup has claimed.The bank found that the current average inflation expectation among the general public for 12 months' time stands at 4.6 per cent - an increase over last month's prediction of 4.1 per cent.Moreover, both of these figures are above the latest government inflation benchmark of 3.3 per cent - which itself exceeds its own target of two per cent.Rising food and fuel costs - driven by rapid rises in wholesale energy prices - has been blamed for the inflationary trend.Barrels of crude oil are currently trading at a near-all time high of $144.Commenting on the new poll, Michael Saunders at Citigroup commented: "Some may argue that the erosion of the credibility of the [Bank's] inflation target does not matter as long as pay growth does not pick up."He added: "In our view, that is too complacent."
Share this..
Related stories
HSBC looking to help first-time buyers
HSBC has today announced additional funding of £500 million which will be targeted at the first-time buyer market, an area of the UK mortgage market which has remained an outcast for some time. This follows an earlier move by the bank to inject a further £1 billion in loans to customers who were unable to raise deposits of more than 10%.
While the move has been well received by po...
General Motors on the verge of bankruptcy
It has been revealed that General Motors, the US car giant, is on the verge of bankruptcy as the fight over the company's European operations reaches fever pitch. The European Commission is central to the distribution of the various European arms of the business which have been put up for sale as part of an ongoing financial restructuring. However, with Germany the base for over 50% of GM Europe t...
Read MoreWhat is the best we can hope for in 2009?
As the UK economy continues to struggle and the UK population continues to worry about the employment market, there are concerns that 2009 could be as bad if not worse than 2008. Indeed there are also forecasts of a second credit crunch in the first quarter of 2009 when banking institutions across the UK may be forced to take on further capital to strengthen their balance sheet. This potential wea...
Read MoreUK car industry in disarray
Figures showing a 51.3% slump in car manufacturing in the UK in the year to March 2009 have perfectly highlighted the ongoing difficulties being felt by the sector. Coming on the back of February figures which showed a 59% fall for the 12 month period it appears as though the UK car economy is in a dire situation but possibly showing signs of stabilisation.
Many car manufacturers ar...
FSA extends short selling regulations
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today extended the reporting regulations with regards to short selling which were introduced some months ago. Despite originally suggesting that the rules were short-term, ensuring that any short position above 0.25% of a target share capital was reported to the market, it appears this particular rule will continue indefinitely.
At the heig...