UK: Public borrowing smashes forecasts to hit record high

George Soros, the veteran investor, summed up the views of many in the market in an interview with Der Standard newspaper, warning that the US and Europe were threatened by recession, and President Bush’s package of measures was unlikely to help. The situation in the financial markets was “much more serious than any financial crisis” since the Second World War, he added.

Last week, Sir John Gieve, a deputy governor at the Bank of England, said that a sharp rise in inflation may jeopardise interest rate cuts. “We have seen big rises in the world prices of oil and food,” he said. “That is being amplified in the UK by a fall in sterling and is now coming through in our food, petrol, gas and electricity prices. These are likely to raise our inflation rate well above target in the coming months.”
Independent