Posted By
Hiba Sameen
20 March 2013
Hiba looks into the Chancellor's statement for the 'aspiration nation' and whether it is compatible with our financial system.
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Posted By
Hiba Sameen
14 February 2013
Hiba takes a look at the regulatory reform pressured onto banks since the financial crisis, and whether these have had any effect.
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Posted By
Birgitte Andersen and Hiba Sameen
12 September 2012
Vince Cable’s industrial strategy launched yesterday at Imperial College shifted the government’s focus from the short-term to the long-term, taking a strategic approach to the government’s long-term investment in the British economy. He outlined the Coalition’s long-term vision in supporting sustainable economic growth, identifying 5 key areas: access to finance, building partnerships with key sectors, supporting emerging technologies, skills and procurement.
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Posted By
Hiba Sameen
22 March 2012
Yesterday’s budget was meant to put Britain back on the path to growth and recovery. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has set out in its forecasts what that path might look like. As the government’s watchdog on public finances, its primary function is to ensure that the government is meeting its fiscal mandate during this period of austerity. But as the governments’ fiscal target is to eliminate the structural deficit by 2016/17, one of the key judgements they are required to make is the size of the output gap. The output gap reflects the underlying capacity for the economy to grow without giving rise to inflation, debt imbalances or other factors that could cause a subsequent correction in the future. And the size of the output gap is a key judgement for the OBR, because as it determines how much of the deficit is cyclical and how much of it is structural, it has important implications for the government’s fiscal target.
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Posted By
Hiba Sameen
20 March 2012
In the run-up to the Budget, the Chancellor has announced the launch of the National Loan Guarantee Scheme as part of his credit easing plans to help the economy grow. The scheme guarantees, in the first instance, £5bn of funds (which will increase to up to £20bn depending on the success of the scheme) for companies with a turnover of up to £50m at interest rates discounted by 100 basis points. The Federation of Small Businesses has recently reported that 60% of small businesses felt that credit was unaffordable – thus, this scheme should go some way to help reduce that burden.
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In October last year, the Chancellor had announced that the Government would begin a policy of credit easing to improve small businesses' access to finance.
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Posted By
Birgitte Andersen and Hiba Sameen
02 February 2012
FINNOV, short for Financing Innovation and Growth: Reforming a Dysfunctional System is a research collaboration coordinated by Professor Mariana Mazzucato funded by the EC under its 7th Framework Programme. Yesterday, the project launched its final research at the House of Commons with appearances from David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Science and Universities and Chi Onwurah, Shadow Minister for Innovation and Science.
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Posted By
Hiba Sameen
25 January 2012
Yesterday, we were told that the national debt has reached £1 trillion for the first time in the UK’s history and it is very likely to rise even further. Today, the Office for National Statistics has published the latest GDP figures, and it's not good news.
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