Closing summary
Time to wrap up… here’s a quick recap.
Europe’s inflation squeeze has eased a little this month, with a slowdown in price rises in Spain and Germany.
Spain’s annual inflation rate almost halved this month, to 3.3% from 6% in February, as electricity and fuel prices fell back. However, core inflation remained sticky, at 7.5%.
Analysts predicted that Spain’s headline inflation rate would continued to fall.
In Germany, inflation also fell – but was higher than expected. On an EU-harmonised basis, the consumer prices index rose by 7.8% year-on-year, down from 9.3% earlier this year.
🇩🇪 German #Inflation Slows Sharply as Energy-Price Spike Fade - Bloomberg
— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) March 30, 2023
*Consumer prices rise 7.8% from year ago; economist est. 7.5%https://t.co/ID12DaAmws pic.twitter.com/NjE9qEeK33
Food price inflation climbed in Germany, though, hitting 22.3%, as households were hit by soaring costs of essentials.
OOPS! Supermarket prices keep rising in Germany. German Food #inflation jumped 22.3% YoY in March, a fresh ATH since the start of the statistics, and up from 21.8% in February. pic.twitter.com/DxKrM56ddI
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) March 30, 2023
Global shipping costs have dropped again this week, which should help ease price pressures in the world economy.
There are signs of green shoots in the UK economy, with companies predicting that activity will return to growth in the next quarter.
But economists at Allianz predict that the UK, Germany and Italy will fall into recession this year.
They also predict the US could fall into “a sizeable recession”, after its banking sector saw a “near-death” experience this month.
Allianz say:
Negative confidence effects from the near-death experience in the US banking sector and the unresolved energy situation in Europe will shape the rest of the year.
We maintain our call for a sizable recession in the US at the end of the year due to a slowdown in housing, manufacturing and construction, while economic momentum stalls in the Eurozone as fiscal stimulus is gradually pared back.
The outlook for the Chinese economy has improved, but global spillovers from the reopening are limited.
European stock markets have closed higher, while the pound touched a two-month high today.
In other news…
Green business groups and academics have dismissed the UK’s new energy plan unveiled today as a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals.
Energy firms will no longer force people in a village in Cheshire to stop heating and cooking with natural gas and swap to lower-carbon hydrogen after a local backlash to a planned government-backed pilot.
A decision on whether to bring forward the date when the state pension age rises to 68 has been postponed until after the next general election.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is reportedly considering a company-wide ban on political advertising in Europe amid fears it could struggle to abide by new EU campaigning laws.
The former chief executive of LV= has been awarded a £318,000 bonus despite widening losses and lingering controversy over his role in a failed sale to an US private equity firm that would have resulted in the demutualisation of the insurer.
The outgoing head of the World Bank has called for a dramatic increase in financial help is needed to help poor countries meet the $2.4tn (£1.9tn) annual cost of coping with the combined impact of wars, pandemics and the climate crisis.
World Bank chief calls for dramatic hike in funding to help developing world
A dramatic increase in financial help is needed to help poor countries meet the $2.4tn (£1.9tn) annual cost of coping with the combined impact of wars, pandemics and the climate crisis, the outgoing head of the World Bank has said.
Speaking in Niger, David Malpass defended his record for funding support for developing countries since becoming president of the Washington-based organisation and said further increases would probably be announced at the Bank’s spring meeting next month.
“During the last four years, we have shown that financing for development can be quickly ramped up,” Malpass said.
He added:
“Development needs have increased dramatically and so should development finance, to help countries such as Niger implement good development policies that support their citizens, boost economic growth, alleviate poverty, maintain peace and respond to complex global problems.”
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