Inflation

The Bank of England is now expected to lift borrowing costs by a bigger 50 basis points to 1.75% on Thursday as it battles soaring inflation, according to a Reuters poll taken over the past week after several economists changed their minds.

Indonesia's inflation accelerated to its highest in seven years, above the central bank's target range, while core inflation remained within target.

As high inflation forces Americans to spend more on gas and bills, young and low-income consumers are starting to feel financial pressure.

Australian home prices slid for a third month in July and the pace quickened as Sydney suffered its worst decline in almost 40 years amid rising borrowing costs and a cost-of-living crisis.

British businesses do not expect any growth over the next three months, as a surging cost of living squeezes consumer demand, a monthly survey showed on Sunday.

With the Federal Reserve expected to hike its key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday to battle high inflation, focus will shift to how deeply signs of an economic slowdown have registered with its policymakers.

Europe's largest consumer-focused firms are seeing no shortage of demand despite a cost-of-living crisis.

The global economy is in the grips of a serious slowdown, with some key economies at high risk of recession and only sparse meaningful cooling in inflation over the next year, according to Reuters polls of economists.

The Bank of England must decide next week whether to join the ranks of central banks rushing out their biggest interest rate hikes in decades, or whether the warning signs of a recession mean it should tread more cautiously.

A surge in debt costs - pushed up by soaring inflation to twice their previous monthly peak - added to Britain's budget deficit in June, which was its highest since April 2021, data showed on Thursday.

UK annual inflation hit a new 40-year high at 9.4 percent in June on surging fuel and food prices.

Surging petrol and food prices last month pushed British inflation to its highest rate in 40 years, according to official figures that bolstered the chances of a rare half percentage-point Bank of England interest rate hike next month.

Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes on Wednesday reported a bigger second-quarter loss, hit by a $365 million charge from its Russian operations and supply chain inflation, while adjusted profits also missed analysts' forecasts.

South African inflation surged to a 13-year high in June, data showed on Wednesday, moving further away from the central bank's target the day before an interest rate announcement.

Almost half of Britons are changing what they buy to feed their families as they try to navigate a worsening cost-of-living crisis, according to survey data published on Wednesday.

Britain's government must focus on sound public finances and avoid further fuelling inflation by pumping up demand, new finance minister Nadhim Zahawi is due to say in his first major speech on Tuesday.

New Zealand's consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in three decades, beating forecasts and raising the prospect of an unprecedented 75 basis point interest rate hike at the central bank's policy meeting next month.

Asian shares inched higher on Monday following a much-needed bounce on Wall Street, but nerves are stretched ahead of a near-certain rate hike in Europe and another round of corporate earnings reports.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer millions of public sector workers pay rises averaging 5% next week, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed government ministers.

Central bankers around the world are scrambling to adjust to stubbornly high inflation at risk of getting further out of hand and forcing stronger policy actions that increase the risk of a global recession.

Britain is set to have the lowest economic growth of any Group of Seven country, projections show.

Consumers are cutting back on chocolate due to the cost of living crises in Europe and the United States, according to new data and comments from executives at the world's biggest chocolate companies.

Panama protests continue despite fuel and food price cuts

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday is expected to make its largest interest-rate increase since the late 1990s as the central bank hastens tightening to tackle an overheating economy and runaway inflation.

The basic idea is that the consistent ratcheting up of workers' pay to match inflation and cost of living increases leads to firms raising prices to protect their profit margins.

India's inflation will hold above the top of the central bank's tolerance band for at least the rest of 2022, longer than previously thought, making several more interest rate hikes in coming months all but inevitable, a Reuters poll showed.

Promises of tax cuts from candidates to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pose another inflationary risk which could pressure the Bank of England to raise interest rates more aggressively, cancelling out any potential boost to the economy.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Monday that he still thought that inflation was likely to fall sharply next year, broadly in line with forecasts the British central bank presented in early May.

The bond market is pricing in a sharp deceleration in inflation over the next year, as aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve to counter the steepest surge in prices in a generation ramps up recession concerns.

Britain faces an unsustainable debt burden more than three times its current level unless future governments raise taxes to fund increasing costs from an ageing population and falling revenue from taxation on motor fuel, a watchdog warned on Thursday.