An influential body that represents British business said in a report published on Sunday there was a “distinct possibility” of the country facing recession in the next six or nine months.
In its quarterly economic forecast, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said that while a major downturn was unlikely, a cut in interest rates was necessary to counter the threat of serious problems.
Its comments came the week after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Britain faced an increased risk of recession, with economic growth set to slow further and inflation expected to spike.
“Our quarterly economic forecast highlights a significant worsening in UK economic prospects,” said David Kern, the BCC’s economic adviser. “There is now a distinct possibility of technical recession.”
He added that unemployment would climb by up to 300,000 in the next two to three years. It would “likely” reach nearly 2 million, Kern said, adding that he would not rule out a rise above that.
Retail sales growth in central London slowed to its lowest since April after falling house prices and a squeeze on incomes hit sales of more expensive household goods.
Like-for-like sales growth last month slowed to 6.2 percent, from 12.9 percent a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Central London outperformed the rest of the UK, buoyed by tourists from the Middle East and summer sales, the industry group said in the statement.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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