LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government borrowed slightly more than expected in December as the economy continued to struggle, thwarting efforts to erase a large budget deficit and adding to pressure on the country’s top credit rating.

Just over a month after official borrowing forecasts for 2012-13 were revised, economists said the figures showed Chancellor George Osborne was almost certain to miss his new annual target, further endangering a deficit-cutting drive that is already running two years behind.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government borrowed slightly more than expected in December as the economy continued to struggle, thwarting efforts to erase a large budget deficit and adding to pressure on the country’s top credit rating.

Just over a month after official borrowing forecasts for 2012-13 were revised, economists said the figures showed the Chancellor, George Osborne, was almost certain to miss his new annual target, further endangering a deficit-cutting drive that is already running two years behind.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government borrowed slightly more than expected in December as the economy continued to struggle, thwarting efforts to erase a large budget deficit and adding to pressure on the UK’s credit rating.

The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday public sector net borrowing excluding financial sector interventions, the government’s preferred measure, rose last month to 15.419 billion pounds from 14.848 billion pounds in December 2011.

LONDON (Reuters) – Restarting the Bank of England’s asset purchase program any time soon would give little help to Britain’s economy and risks raising inflation, new central bank policymaker Ian McCafferty said on Friday.

In his first speech since joining the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in September, McCafferty also said that he was concerned inflation would be slow to fall over the next two years and that pent-up wage pressures were building.

LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – British retail sales dashed hopes
on Friday of a Christmas boost for a struggling economy, falling
on the month in December and growing the least on the year since
April.

The latest official figures support the view that British
national output shrank in the fourth quarter and point to a
gloomy consumer mood that has shut three well-known chains since
the beginning of the year.

LONDON (Reuters) – British inflation held at 2.7 percent for the third month running in December, while producer prices dipped below forecast as a rise in utility bills was offset by lower fuel costs.

Some analysts had feared a higher headline inflation number and financial markets on Tuesday took the figures as modestly reassuring for British consumers and for policymakers struggling to fend off recession.

LONDON (Reuters) – British inflation held at 2.7 percent for the third month running in December, while producer prices dipped below forecast as a rise in utility bills was offset by lower fuel costs.

Some analysts had feared a higher headline inflation number and financial markets on Tuesday took the figures as modestly reassuring for British consumers and for policymakers struggling to fend off recession.

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – British inflation held at 2.7
percent for the third month running in December, while producer
prices dipped below forecast as a rise in utility bills was
offset by lower fuel costs.

Some analysts had feared a higher headline inflation number
and financial markets on Tuesday took the figures as modestly
reassuring for British consumers and for policymakers struggling
to fend off recession.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England left its monetary policy settings unchanged on Thursday while it awaits clearer signals on the state of Britain’s economy and more news on the progress of a key scheme to boost lending.

After a two-day meeting, the BoE’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said its main interest rate would stay at a record-low 0.5 percent and it would not buy any government bonds on top of the 375 billion pounds purchased so far.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s top statistician unexpectedly decided major changes to the country’s longest-running inflation index on Thursday, rejecting a move that could have significantly cut government borrowing costs.

Jil Matheson, the government’s top statistical adviser, concluded that the existing Retail Price Index did not meet current international standards. But she said it would be better to create a new index rather than fundamentally change RPI, which is written into many existing contracts.