Spain should be singing “Help” or perhaps “With a little help from my friends!”
Today sees the Spring Meetings for both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. One of the lessons of these times is that there has been an extraordinary inflation in the number of meetings between world leaders. Sadly there … Read More
The Bank of England can “not rule out” that the UK will have “GDP falling for three successive quarters”
Yesterday saw the publication of the minutes from the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. This body sets UK interest-rates and monetary policy. Tucked away in these minutes was something of a bombshell and I … Read More
Both Spain and Portugal will be dragged down by their weakening banking sectors unless they change policy
One of the themes of this blog has been the way that politicians indulge in hyperbole and bombast to cover up and in many cases to dent economic reality. Today we see both an example of this and an attempt … Read More
Japan lends “free money” to the IMF whilst the UK’s inflation rise embarasses the Bank of England
Sometimes the news we receive is hard to believe and at other times it goes further and becomes like an episode from the science-fiction series the Outer Limits. Today it is the latter which has come to the forefront as … Read More
Spain faces a simple choice between devaluation and economic depression
We open this week with the realisation that the recent lull in the crisis in the Euro is now over. Last week saw rising government bond yields in Italy and particularly Spain which has continued this morning. However let us … Read More
China has economic growth of 7.4% using the American annualised system (compounded) and should ease more
The last 24 hours have given us updates on what are the two key economic signals for the world at this time. Firstly we found out a little more about US unemployment and then we received an update on Chinese economic … Read More
Greece should leave the Euro and devalue to grasp fully the hope offered by exports outside of Europe
Yesterday the Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos made a welcome move as he announced that elections will be held on May 6th. As a supporter of democracy I think that this is long overdue and that elections would have been … Read More
As Spain pays nearly 6% on her benchmark bonds and the UK pays 2%,is Euro membership worth that?
The last week or so has since something of a gathering storm for Spain as two effects have coincided. Firstly the efforts of the European Central Bank to indirectly help her (some would argue directly…) have begun to wear off. … Read More
Replacing the shadow banking system with central bank liquidity is not working well
Welcome to a new business week in the UK as we and most of Europe return after the Easter break. Even the break itself provides some food for thought as for example the increasingly secular UK takes an extra two … Read More
Both the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank will be considering intervention today
Welcome to Maundy Thursday which is the forerunner of Easter so let me wish all readers a Happy Easter too. In the UK today has a celebration in which the monarch presents Maundy money to deserving recipients which these days … Read More
Shaun Richards is an independent economist who studied originally at the LSE. His speciality is monetary economics and he uses it to analyse current economic trends. He started his career in the City of London in 1985 and brings his trading experience in bond, currency and derivative markets to his analysis of current economic events. Follow him on twitter @notayesmansecon.
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