Head of IMF says risks in private credit market keep her awake at night
The head of the International Monetary Fund has admitted that worrying about the risks building up in non-bank lending markets keeps her awake at night.Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday urged countries to pay more attention to the private credit market, after the failure of the sub-prime auto lender Tricolor and the car parts supplier First Brands.Speaking at the IMF’s annual meeting in Washington DC, Georgieva said the fund was concerned about the “very significant shift of financing” from the banking sector to non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs).Those NBFIs are not regulated as closely as the banking sector, she pointed out, meaning the world could end up in “a difficult place” if the private credit sector continued to grow significantly and the global economy then weakened.“This is why we are urging more attention to the non-bank financial institutions,” Georgieva told reporters, suggesting there should be more oversight of the sector
UK economy expands as GDP rises by 0.1% in August ahead of crucial budget
The UK economy expanded by 0.1% in August, according to official figures, giving a lift to Rachel Reeves before next month’s crucial budget.A boost from the manufacturing sector helped the economy improve along with a strong performance by the health sector.However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it had revised down July’s flatlining growth to a 0.1% contraction, limiting the rise in output over the three months to August to 0
‘When I was a child, everyone used it’: woman blames Johnson & Johnson talc for her cancer
It was Sue Rizzello’s husband who persuaded her to see a doctor, concerned about the bloating in her abdomen that was making her more and more uncomfortable. Rizzello, then in her late 40s, had assumed it was menopausal weight gain, but agreed to go to her GP. “A smart locum said: ‘There’s something wrong here,’ and sent me for a blood test … And that saved my life.”It was the worst news: Rizzello had stage 3 ovarian cancer that had begun to spread. She would need to begin chemotherapy immediately and prepare for the complete removal of her uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes and omentum, a procedure that would put her into immediate menopause
Cost of taking over British Steel rises to £235m, government says
The cost of taking control of British Steel has risen to £235m, the UK government has said, as it acknowledged concern over the threat of EU tariffs that could significantly harm the business.The government passed emergency legislation in April to take control of British Steel amid fears that its Chinese owner, Jingye Steel, was planning to walk away from its Scunthorpe steelworks.The takeover preserved the jobs of 3,500 workers at British Steel but it has left the government footing the bill for the loss-making company. The industry minister, Chris McDonald, said the government had paid for “working capital, covering items such as raw materials, salaries, and addressing unpaid bills, including for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the supply chain”, in a written statement to parliament published this week.The latest costs add to the £604m spent on keeping the Scunthorpe plant going in 2019 and 2020, when it collapsed into insolvency under its previous owner, the private equity fund Greybull Capital
Nestlé to axe 16,000 jobs as new chief targets sales growth
Nestlé has said it will cut 16,000 jobs over the next two years as the owner of KitKat and Nescafé attempts to reduce costs and increase sales.The Swiss-headquartered multinational said the cuts would include 12,000 white-collar professionals and 4,000 in its manufacturing and supply chain, close to 6% of Nestlé’s global workforce.“The world is changing and Nestlé needs to change faster,” said Philipp Navratil, the new chief executive. “This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years. We will do this with respect and transparency
75% of Americans report soaring prices as Trump claims inflation ‘over’
Nine months after Donald Trump took office, promising to reduce prices on “day one”, a clear majority of Americans say their monthly costs have risen by between $100 and $749, according to an exclusive new poll conducted for the Guardian.The president has continued to insist that there is “virtually no inflation”. “Prices are ‘WAY DOWN’ in the USA,” Trump wrote on social media in late August.Yet according to a new Harris poll, Americans are still reporting soaring inflation and are increasingly pessimistic about the economy.When asked to estimate how much their regular monthly household costs have increased from last year, 74% of those surveyed said they had seen increases of at least $100, according to the poll
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‘When I was a child, everyone used it’: woman blames Johnson & Johnson talc for her cancer