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 ahead of 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 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

Adani denies claims it sold ‘below-market coal’ leading to Queensland missing out on hundreds of millions in royalties

Adani has consistently sold coal from its Queensland mine far below market rates, according to claims made in new analysis, potentially reducing the royalties owed to the state government by hundreds of millions of dollars.The research director at the Australia Institute, Rod Campbell, calculated that Adani sold thermal coal from its Carmichael mine at an average of just over $A100 a tonne during the 2023 to 2025 financial years – its first three full years of operation.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThe period saw huge coal price spikes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Australian benchmark prices surging above $A600/t in late 2022, before moderating.Even allowing for discounted prices for Adani’s lower-quality coal, Campbell said the difference between the “realised price and expected market price is huge”.“This discrepancy means that royalty payments were far lower than might have been expected

Don’t give in to big pharma on drug pricing | Letters

While the chief executive of Eli Lilly may lament the UK’s drug prices (UK is ‘worst country in Europe’ for drug prices, says Mounjaro maker, 24 September), the NHS should celebrate them. The system put in place for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new drugs is respected the world over and is successful in applying the principle that funding a new product should not damage the NHS as a whole. This principle of cost-effectiveness has led to widespread price reductions for the NHS that have allowed the service as a whole to benefit.The chief executive of Eli Lilly links the recent pausing or cancelling of pharmaceutical industry investments in the UK to drug pricing here, when these are down to the drug companies’ desperation to kowtow to Donald Trump.Further to this, the talk of increasing Nice’s cost-effectiveness threshold, and even index-linking this, is a disgrace (NHS could pay 25% more for medicines under plan to end row with drugmakers and Trump, 8 October)

UK government borrowing costs fall as Reeves hints at tax rises – as it happened

UK government borrowing costs have dropped today, after chancellor Rachel Reeves indicated she could raise taxes in the budget.The yield, or interest rate, on 10-year UK gilts has dropped by 4 basis points to 4.54%, down from 4.58% last night. That’s the lowest level since mid-August:Longer-dated borrowing costs are also lower, with the yield on 30-year gilts dropping by 3 basis points to 5

Competition regulator barking up the right tree on vets’ opaque pricing

Poor Tiddles and Fido are too often getting a bad deal – or, rather, their owners are – from the large corporates that dominate the veterinary business these days. That, very roughly, is the conclusion of the Competition and Markets Authority, which was obviously barking up the right tree when it decided 18 months ago to look at a sector that can take an opaque approach to pricing its goods and services.Prices have been rising far faster than general inflation between 2016 and 2023, says the watchdog. The increases cannot be justified – at least, nothing like fully – by investment in better kit or superior services or higher salaries. And, critically, there is a big difference between the prices charged by the large chains and the independents that, pre-2013, used to represent the bulk of the industry

The IMF reckons the global economy remains ‘in flux’, but the Trump effect is real – and Australians aren’t fooled | Greg Jericho

The latest IMF world economic outlook released on Wednesday does not mention “Trump” once in its 166 pages, but he is all over the report as his economic policies continue to make life difficult for everyone. But while the IMF reports Trump’s impact on the global economy is yet to be fully realised, Australian holidaymakers have already made their judgment and are deserting the US in droves.The IMF always likes to be polite. It titled the October 2025 world economic outlook “Global Economy in Flux, Prospects Remain Dim” rather than as I would have: “Trump remains dim, so who the hell knows what will happen”.Perhaps the worst aspect of Trump is how his actions, whether political, economic or social, are regarded with initial concern, but then many in the media, and even our government, desperately try to suggest nothing has changed