<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="wordpress/2.0.5" -->
<rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>Economic Review</title>
	<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:45:27 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>UK Inflation Falls</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The UK consumer price index fell to 2.7 percent in January following an 11 year high of 3 percent in December. These high inflation rates have seen the bank of England raise interest rates three times since august in an attempt to reduce inflation to just 2 percent. The fall in inflation was mostly attributed [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/13/uk-inflation-falls-0050.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>China Experiences Massive Trade Surplus Increase</title>
		<description><![CDATA[January saw an incredible trade surplus increase of 67 percent on last January’s trade surplus for China. Last month China had a trade surplus of 15.9 billion dollars compared to 9.5 billion dollars in January the previous year. Total trade surplus for China in 2006 reached a record 177.37 billion dollars, an increase of 74 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/12/china-experiences-massive-trade-surplus-increase-0051.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>UK Reaches Renewable Energy Milestone</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The UK has become only the seventh country in the world to have more then two gigawatts of operational wind power. This land mark was passed on yesterday when the Braes O&#8217;Doune wind farm was opened, producing 72 megawatts of power, enough electricity for 45,000 homes in the area. The government has set a target [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/10/uk-reaches-renewable-energy-milestone-0049.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>France Hits Record High Trade Deficit</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In contrast with the record trade surplus achieved by Germany, France had a record high trade deficit of 29.2bn euros in 2006. Analysts blamed the trade deficit on the difficultly that exporters were having in the German market, usually a main market for French goods. But the government blamed rising energy prices on the trade [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/09/france-hits-record-high-trade-deficit-0048.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>German Exports at Record High</title>
		<description><![CDATA[German exports where at a record high last year, raising the trade surplus to the highest it has been since the unification of German in 1871. German exports increased by 14 percent from 2005 to 893.6bn Euros in 2006, despite the strong Euro. One of the biggest contributors to the high German export was BMW [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/08/german-exports-at-record-high-0047.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>India Expects 9.2 Percent Economic Growth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[According to the Indian government the Indian economy is set to grow by 9.2 percent in the current financial year above the central bank’s forecast of between 8.5 and 9 percent. The strong economic growth has been attributed to the performance of the country’s manufacturing sector backed by a very high investment rate. Although the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/07/india-expects-92-percent-economic-growth-0046.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bush Plans to Reduce Domestic Spending</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In an attempt to achieving his goal of eliminating the federal deficit by 2012 without increasing taxes United States president George W Bush has stated that as the US is at war, spending will have to be reduced in other areas. Domestic areas that Bush has highlighted for reduced government spending include education, energy and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/04/bush-plans-to-reduce-domestic-spending-0045.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Cold US Weather Drives Up Oil Prices</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Oil prices are approaching $58 per barrel as weather gets colder in the United States and rising expectations of a cut in output by oil cartel Opec. As the weather gets colder demand for oil obviously increases, but when this is combined with fears over a possibly strike in Nigeria, has resulted in a 14 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/02/cold-us-weather-drives-up-oil-prices-0044.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Air Tax Increase In Action</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A tax that Gordon Brown announced last December has now come into action that will mean that passengers will pay double the duty when flying from the United Kingdom. Gordon Brown has blamed the damage that passengers do to the environment when they fly for the increase in air travel tax. The tax is only [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/02/01/air-tax-increase-in-action-0043.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>US Economy Shows Strong Growth in Q4 2006</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The US saw unexpended strong economic growth in the last quarter of 2006 that was mostly down to increased consumer spending. The last quarter saw an increase in GDP (gross domestic product) of 3.5 percent as well as an increase in consumer spending of 4.4 percent. The increase in consumer spending combined with the fall [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/31/us-economy-shows-strong-growth-in-q4-2006-0042.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>US Claims Afghanistan is Less Reliant on Opium</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A US official has claimed that the importance that Opium has in the Afghanistan economy has reduced. US Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher told reporters that about &#8220;About a third of the economy was based on opium last year.” He also went on to say that the dependency [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/30/us-claims-afghanistan-is-less-reliant-on-opium-0041.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Japanese Inflation Less Then Expected</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The CPI (consumer price index) of Japan for December 2006 increased just 0.1 percent on the CPI for Japan in December 2005. Analysts had expected an increase in the CPI due to rising costs of food and utility bills but because of a decrease in the cost of crude oil the increase in CPI was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/28/japanese-inflation-less-then-expected-0040.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>VAT Rise Upsets German Confidence</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The increase in values added tax in Germany from 16 percent to 19 percent has had a considerable affect on business optimism and consumer confidence. A fall in the Munich based Ifo institute’s business climate index from 108.7 in December to 107.9 in January was blamed on the VAT rate rise. Although the index has [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/27/vat-rise-upsets-german-confidence-0039.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Environmentally Friendly Company Critics</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently in the news there has been lots of debate about the reasoning behind steps taken by companies such as Tesco and Marks &#038; Spencer to become more environmentally friendly. Many people are questioning whether these companies are truly taking these environmental actions for ethical reasons but are actually doing it to improve reputation in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/26/environmentally-friendly-company-critics-0038.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>January Exams Revision Break</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I regret to say that I will not be writing on this website for sometime, this is because I am devoting more time to revising for my January exams. I expect to start writing again on Friday the 26th.
Thanks, Chris Smith

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/08/january-exams-revision-break-0037.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Russia Cuts Oil Supplies to Poland, Germany and Ukraine</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Russian state pipeline operator Transneft has cut supplies to the Druzhba pipeline that goes through Belarus. Transneft claims that the supplies were cut to prevent Belarus illegally siphoning oil off the pipeline as payment for unpaid transit tax. The tax imposed by Belarus was explained in an article on the 4th, and was introduced [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/08/russia-cuts-oil-supplies-to-poland-germany-and-ukraine-0036.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>US Job Market Stronger Then Expected</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The United States’ Job market appeared to be stronger then originally expected at the end of 2006. 167,000 jobs were created in the US in during December compared to a forecast of just 100,000 jobs. This meant that annual unemployment rate dropped from 5.2 percent in 2005, to 4.6 percent in 2006. In total 228,000 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/06/us-job-market-stronger-then-expected-0031.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Mortgage Approvals Close To 3 Year High</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Bank of England figures for November show that lenders approved 129,000 mortgages for purchases of new homes, the highest figure since the end of 2003. The total amount of money lent as mortgages was £9.8 billion, the second highest on record. This was understandably blamed on substantial house price growth. Some analysts believe that this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/05/mortgage-approvals-close-to-3-year-high-0032.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Belarus Introduces Large Tax on Russian Oil</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Belarus has announced that it will impose a large tax of $44 (£23) on every tonne of Russian oil that passed through its pipelines to Russia’s European customers. The tax seems to be linked to the doubling of prices by Russian state energy company Gazprom that was forced on Belarus. 
Russia exports a fifth of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/04/belarus-introduces-large-tax-on-russian-oil-0033.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>US Manufacturing Shows Recovery</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing index from December showed an increase to 51.4 from November’s 49.5. An index above 50 indicates a growth in manufacturing. Many analysts predicted a change of the index to 50 or no change at all. The recovery was attributed to an increase in orders and production, combined with reduced [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2007/01/03/us-manufacturing-shows-recovery-0034.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Potential Landfill Duty Increase</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gordon Brown is considering a “steep” raise in landfill tax that would force businesses and councils to pay millions extra. The increase in landfill tax is a measure that aims to move rubbish disposal away from dumping in landfill sites. Landfill tax was introduced in 1996 and has reduced the amount of rubbish going to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/12/09/potential-landfill-duty-increase-0030.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Unemployment in Eurozone at Record Low</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Eurozone, the 12 states that have adopted the Euro has seen a fall in unemployment to a record low of 7.7 percent in October. Unemployment has not been as low as low in the Eurozone since August 2001. The lowest unemployment in the Eurozone was in the Netherlands where it was just 3.9 per [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/12/03/unemployment-in-eurozone-at-record-low-0029.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sterling Reaches 14 Year High against Dollar</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today sterling hit the highest level against the dollar since black Wednesday September 16th 1992. The pound reached a peak of $1.97 and many economists believe it is a matter of time before it reaches $2. The strength of the pound could have serious affect on UK manufacturing as importing becomes more favourable. Evidence for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/12/02/sterling-reaches-14-year-high-against-dollar-0028.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Are High taxes forcing UK companies overseas?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[According to a survey published today by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) nineteen top British Companies have moved some of their operations overseas. 87 senior executives surveyed blamed the blamed the move on high cooperate tax and pressure from the tax authorise.
HSBC is the world’s third largest bank; they have recently stated that they [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/27/are-high-taxes-forcing-uk-companies-overseas-0027.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Retirement Age May Rise to 68</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today John Hutton, sectary of State for Work and Pensions, proposed that the retirement age should be risen to 68, to prevent a tax burden being put on younger people. Increasing life expectancy is causing the United Kingdom’s elderly population to increase, if there is no rise in the Retirement age, a four percent increase [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/23/retirement-age-may-rise-to-68-0026.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Dirty Water Costs Vancouver’s Local Economy Millions</title>
		<description><![CDATA[David Park, chief economist of for the Vancouver Board of Trade, estimated that dirty water in Vancouver taps has cost the local economy millions.
Last Thursday the GVRD (Greater Vancouver Regional District) warned over two million people to boil their water before use after tap water become noticeably brown and cloudy. The contamination of water was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/22/dirty-water-costs-vancouver%e2%80%99s-local-economy-millions-0025.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Georgia Threatens to Veto Russia’s WTO Application</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night in a joint statement between Georgia’s economic and foreign ministers, it was revealed that Georgia would veto the Russian application into the WTO (world trade organisation) if Russia fails to fulfil some &#8220;requirements&#8221;. Georgia feels that threats to stop gas supplies from Gazprom a Russian state energy company earlier this month where unfair. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/21/georgia-threatens-to-veto-russia%e2%80%99s-wto-application-0024.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Milton Friedman Biography</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today Milton Friedman died aged 94; he was a Nobel Prize winning American economist.
Milton Friedman was born in New York the forth child of Sarah Ethel Landau and Jeno Saul Friedman. When his father died the family moved to New Jersey, Milton was educated at Rutgers University where he achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/16/milton-friedman-biography-0023.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>UK Unemployment Highest Since 2001</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Unemployment in the UK rose to its highest level since 2001 today, with 1.7 million people unemployed (5.6 percent of the population). The amount of people in the UK working in manufacturing dropped to the lowest since 1841, when the records began. The growth in average earnings also fell by 0.3 percent in the year [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/15/uk-unemployment-highest-since-2001-0022.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>UK Inflation Remains Stable</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Economists predicted consumer price index to rise to its highest in a decade, 2.6 percent last month, but it remained stable at 2.4. The economist’s based their predictions on the large rise in university tuition fees but did not anticipate fall in petrol prices which balanced it out.
Many people think that the consistency of the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/14/uk-inflation-remains-stable-0021.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Japanese Current Account Surplus Increases</title>
		<description><![CDATA[September saw a 9.4 percent rise in Japan’s current account surplus when compared to the previous year’s September. Economists had a predicted an increase of 8.5 percent and have mainly attributed the increase on the country’s strong exports in recent months. Japan’s economy is the second largest in the world, and the potential recovery of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/13/japanese-current-account-surplus-increases-0020.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>French Economy Shows No Growth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recent statistics for the French economy that showed no growth in the third quarter of this year, has surprise many economists. The second quarter of this year gave to a 1.2% growth in the French economy, which added to the shock caused by the figures released by INSEE (French National Institute for Statistics and Economic [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/12/french-economy-shows-no-growth-0019.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>UK Trade Deficit Decreases</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Office for National Statistics has announced that the difference between imports and exports decreased from £4.5bn in August to £4.1bn in September. Although a reduction of trade deficit is a good thing, the relatively high total trade deficit is clearly not. This is mainly caused by the high value of goods that the UK [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/10/uk-trade-deficit-decreases-0018.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Australian Unemployment at 30 Year Low</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Statistics released today have shown that unemployment in Australia dropped to 4.6 percent in October; the lowest is has been in 30 years. Australian Prime Minister John Howard is confident that the country’s record unemployment will stay steady.
Australia’s economy is currently strong but there a number of factors that could quickly reduce its strength. If [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/09/australian-unemployment-at-30-year-low-2-0017.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Is China Over Investing?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Economists have believed that china is investing too heavily in their economy for a long while. China’s government says that investment is over 45% of the countries GDP. This is so high that many economists argue that with investment this great will inevitably cause the economy to overheat and crash.
Now recent studies by economists have [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/08/is-china-over-investing-0015.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Vietnam Invited To Join WTO</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After over a decade of negotiations Vietnam has been invited to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Many of Vietnam’s top civil servants and business people believe that for half a century the country has been held back by war and economic restrictions. With their immanent membership to the WTO, they feel that Vietnam should [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/08/vietnam-invited-to-join-wto-0014.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>UK October Retail Sales Increase</title>
		<description><![CDATA[According to the British Retail Sales Consortium October offered a 2.6 percent increase in retail sales, but this rise has done little to reassure many economists who believe that Christmas spending will not be as high as originally hoped.
With the expected raise in interest rates, increasing household bills and growing consumer debt, the prospects of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/07/uk-october-retail-sales-increase-0013.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Olive Oil to Lift Palestinian Economy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A forecasted “exceptional” harvest of olives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is expected to triple sales of Olive Oil, bringing a vital US$110m to the deteriorating Palestinian economy. More then 100,000 families in the west bank depend on olive sales to buy food, so the importance of this harvest can easily be seen. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/07/olive-oil-to-lift-palestinian-economy-0012.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Asda to Offer Online Shopping</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The UK’s second biggest supermarket chain Asda, is starting development of its own online shopping system in an attempt to keep up with many of its competitors who already offer the service. 
Asda is planning to recruit an estimated 1,800 new employees and will spend as much as £10m on delivery vans to achieve this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/06/asda-to-offer-online-shopping-0010.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Worker and Executive Pay Difference Increasing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recent research by the Income Data Services (IDS) has indicated that the average earnings of a top executive are now more than 98 times greater then that of an average employee. When compared to ten years ago, when executives where paid just 39 times that of an average employee, the significance of this research becomes [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/06/worker-and-executive-pay-difference-increasing-009.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Interest Rates Set to Rise</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Bank of England is widely expected to raise interest rates from 4.75% to 5% on Thursday and many Economists believe there could be another raise early next year in an attempt to reduce inflation.
In my opinion an increase in interest rates could not have come sooner as borrowing seems to be going through the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/05/interest-rates-set-to-rise-007.html</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Enviromental Tax</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Just weeks after wind turbines first went on sale at B&#038;Q, they have proven to be one of their top selling items in terms of cash. Many people are attributing this to consumers concerns of taxes being imposed on individuals who are less environmentally friendly.
The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are both in favour of increasing [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.economicreview.co.uk/2006/11/05/enviromental-tax-006.html</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
