Economy

• Monday, July 17th 2017 - 04:29 UTC

  Britain is in for a rough ride, unless cabinet ministers stop squabbling

  

  Britain is in for “a rough ride” unless cabinet ministers stop squabbling over Brexit, the former head of the civil service has warned. Writing in the Observer, Lord O’Donnell called for cabinet ministers to unite in backing a lengthy transition deal and “start being honest about the complexity of the challenge”. “There is no chance all the details will be hammered out in 20 months,” he warned.

• Monday, July 17th 2017 - 04:12 UTC

  France seeking to disrupt and degrade UK's financial sector, claims City of London

  

  France is actively seeking to exploit Brexit to disrupt and degrade Britain’s lucrative financial sector, a senior City representative has warned. Former foreign office minister Jeremy Browne, who acts as the City of London’s envoy on Brexit, said the French see the British as “adversaries” in the forthcoming withdrawal negotiations.

• Saturday, July 15th 2017 - 08:31 UTC

  US top banker blasts “political gridlock” and says it is “almost embarrassment” to be a US citizen

  

  JP Morgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon condemned the state of US politics on Friday, saying political gridlock is hurting the US economy, and called Americans must “get our act together” or risk limiting themselves to 1.5% to 2% growth.

• Saturday, July 15th 2017 - 08:25 UTC

  Wales, Scotland warn of a “constitutional crisis” if changes are not made to Brexit bill

  

  High-level Brexit talks between the UK government and devolved administrations are stalled because of the political crisis in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed. Meetings of the joint ministerial committee (JMC), the forum intended to bring together the administrations in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, are understood to be on hold because of the lack of a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.

• Saturday, July 15th 2017 - 08:12 UTC

  S&P downgrades Chile's rating, for the first time since 1990

  

  Credit ratings agency S&P downgraded Chile's long-term foreign currency rating to 'A+' from 'AA-' on Thursday, the country's first downgrade since the 1990s, as weak business confidence and low prices for key export copper have eaten into fiscal revenues.

• Saturday, July 15th 2017 - 07:57 UTC

  Big banks moving out of London to Dublin, Frankfort, Paris

  

  Barclays is in talks with Irish regulators about expanding its presence in Dublin in the run up to Brexit. It is the latest financial company to indicate how it is repositioning to cope with the UK's exit from the EU.

• Friday, July 14th 2017 - 07:54 UTC

  Weak pound helps to boost tourists visiting UK by 21.1%, in first quarter

  

  The weakness of sterling was behind a surge in the number of tourists visiting the UK in the first three months of 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The number of holidaymakers coming to the UK rose by 21.1%, although the number of business visitors declined.

• Friday, July 14th 2017 - 05:55 UTC

  Falklands' post-Brexit concerns on tariffs and politics, outlined to House of Lords

  

  Concerns about tariffs on Falklands exports post Brexit, and political consequences were outlined by a Falklands' representative giving evidence to a House of Lords committee (the European Union Select Committee) last Tuesday.

• Thursday, July 13th 2017 - 18:30 UTC

  Global food commodity prices rose in June, led by wheat and meat prices.

  

  The FAO monthly Food Price Index averaged 175.2 points in June, up 1.4% from May and 7.0% from a year earlier. The FAO Cereal Price Index rose by 4.2% in the month, amid surging prices of high-protein wheat due to deteriorating crop conditions in the United States of America. Maize prices, by contrast, declined amid record harvests in South America.

• Thursday, July 13th 2017 - 09:26 UTC

  British companies will visit Uruguay in a trade mission in September

  

  The UK embassy in Montevideo is organizing a business visit to introduce Uruguay as an export market to British companies. The mission is primarily focused on agro-tech, taking advantage of Uruguay's main agriculture show in Montevideo during the month of September.