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Added on the 08/03/2016 15:42:41 - Copyright : Reuters EN
Britain's European Union referendum could push up credit checks and weaken sterling more, the Bank of England has warned. As Sonia Legg reports, it's also moved to bolster banks risk buffers and slow a boom in lending to landlords.
On Friday, Goldman Sachs predicted the UK's economy will grow 7% in 2021. The growth will be led by the coronavirus vaccine rollout and a Brexit trade deal. Over half of the country's population is expected to be immunized by March. Business Insider reports there will be a significant rebound in economic activity from the second quarter of next year. New trade restrictions are likely to weigh on potential growth in the coming years. Goldman said the drag will mostly be slow to materialize. UK GDP will end the year 11.7% under its pre-pandemic level, twice as much as Germany, France, and Italy.
The United States warns Israel that staging a military push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah without proper planning would run the risk of becoming a "disaster." State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel says Washington has "yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation," adding: "To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area" where one million people are sheltering "would be a disaster." SOUNDBITE
The US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announces that interest rates wil remain unchanged for the fourth straight meeting. "As labor market tightness has eased and progress on inflation has continued, the risks to achieving our employment and inflation goals are moving into better balance," he says. SOUNDBITE
The Bank of England announces it will hold its key interest rate at 5.25 percent, a day after the Federal Reserve also froze borrowing costs as global inflation retreats. The BoE had already kept its rate steady at the central bank's previous monetary policy meeting in September, snapping a streak of 14 hikes in a row. But Governor Andrew Bailey says it is "much too early" to think about cutting rates. IMAGES