Author Archives: Vishnu Padmanabhan

GDP growth – which countries did best and worst in the recession?

The OECD Economic Outlook database provides a comprehensive macroeconomic overview of developed economies and includes forecasts for the coming year. Looking at annual real GDP changes, the OECD as a whole reached a low of  -3.4% in 2009. Growth was … Continue reading

Posted in Credit Crunch, Economics, OECD | Leave a comment

Local area US unemployment data

The latest additions to the Timetric database are up-to-date US figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics showing unemployment rates broken down by region, state and even city area. Tweet

Posted in Economics, Unemployment, USA | Leave a comment

Retail Sales – OK news ………..

Today’s release of retail figures for February showed a 0.8% decrease in retail volume from January; a greater than expected fall, which analysts attribute to consumers responding to increased VAT. However, compared to last year, retail sales are up by … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, UK | Leave a comment

Budget Preview: Public Sector Finances

The Budget is the time to take stock of the health of public sector finances. The Chancellor believes that the situation is a fairly healthy one. “We have taken Britain out of the fiscal danger zone. Now we have to … Continue reading

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The Budget for Growth

Tomorrow’s budget could not come at a more delicate time for the UK economy. Unemployment remains persistently high and today’s inflation figures have revealed an annual increase in the CPI of 4.4% in February, more than double the Bank of England’s 2% … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Inflation, Politics, UK, Unemployment | Leave a comment