BoE delivers message Britons don’t want to hear as inflation – and rates – look set to rise

The US-Israel attack on Iran has already driven prices higher and not just at the petrol pumps, the Bank of England said on Thursday in a gloomy assessment of the UK’s economic outlook.An inflation rate that was on track to fall from 3% to the Bank’s 2% target in the coming months is now expected to rise to 3.5%. That is one probable impact of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.Higher transport and energy costs can quickly flow through to higher food prices, ratcheting up the consumer prices index when the previous trajectory was down

Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75% and signals rise is possible within months

The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold and signalled it could be forced to increase borrowing costs within the coming months as the US-Israel war on Iran threatens to drive inflation in the UK above 3%.As households brace for a surge in living costs, the Bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep its base rate at the current level of 3.75% amid growing concern over the surge in energy prices triggered by the conflict.It warned that the “new shock” to the economy would lead to higher than previously expected inflation in the short term, putting further pressure on household finances already battered by a cost of living crisis.Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor, said: “War in the Middle East has pushed up global energy prices

PwC partners who fail to embrace AI have no future at firm, US CEO warns

The US boss of PricewaterhouseCoopers has warned that partners who do not get to grips with AI have no future at the consulting firm.Paul Griggs said senior staff who were not “paranoid about being AI-first” would probably be replaced by others who were ready to embrace the technology. “I don’t think anyone gets a free pass here. Anyone,” Griggs told the Financial Times.An employee who thinks they have the “opportunity to opt out” of AI is “not going to be here that long”, Griggs added

BP to sell German oil refinery as part of $20bn cost-cutting plan

BP has agreed to sell its giant German oil refinery site in Gelsenkirchen to the investment firm Klesch Group as part of the British oil company’s plan to sell off $20bn (£15bn) worth of assets and cut its costs.The value of the sale was not disclosed but BP said it would save the oil company about $1bn of underlying operating expenditure at the complex, which processes about 12m tonnes of crude oil every year, mainly as fuel for cars and aircraft.The sale has also enabled BP to raise its cost-cutting target to between $6.5bn and $7.5bn by 2027, or almost a third of its cost baseline in 2023

UK pay growth sinks to five-year low as younger workers hit by hiring slowdown

Wage growth slowed sharply in the three months to January, according to the latest snapshot of the jobs market from the Office for National Statistics.Average earnings growth fell to 3.8% in the three months to January, down from 4.2% – a larger fall than forecast by City economists. It was the slowest rate of wage growth in more than five years

UK to double steel tariffs to 50% to save plants from collapse

The UK is to double tariffs on Chinese and other foreign steel in a bid to save its remaining plants from collapse.The new measures came weeks after bosses at Tata Steel in south Wales warned the government they had just two months to be saved.A target of 50% of steel used in the UK will be made domestically, and 50% of that is to be made in Wales, the business secretary, Peter Kyle, said during a visit to Tata Steel in Port Talbot.The new £2.5bn strategy aims to increase domestic production by 30%