Former BoE chief economist warns of ‘more pain’ from rising mortgage costs and falling real wages Business

State Grid asks coal plants to warm up for rainy days

Jasper Jolly

This State Grid Coal-fired power plants have been ordered to warm up as needed on Thursday amid persistently cold weather across the UK.

Two coal-fired units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton, Nottinghamshire, were given until midnight on Wednesday to start up. The West Burton unit shut down at 5.13am, but the Drax unit continued to heat up, according to a notice sent to industry.

National Grid has been actively balancing the UK’s energy supply in recent days in response to colder, less windy weather, which would push up energy use and lead to a drop in wind power generation.

This is the third time in the past week that National Grid’s electricity supply operator (ESO) has ordered coal-fired plants to preheat in case they are needed.

National Grid this month also ran its demand flexibility service outside of trials for the first time this month. The service pays households equipped with smart meters to reduce energy consumption, helping to reduce peak demand, meaning it doesn’t need to consume more polluting energy when energy use increases at night. Some businesses have paid to reduce energy use.

former us president donald trump will be allowed to start over Facebook and instagramthe company behind the social media platform, Yuan, saying it will end the two-year account suspension.his Twitter The company’s new boss has lifted the ban Elon Musk.

The suspension will end “in the coming weeks,” Meta said.

President, Global Affairs, Meta Nick Clegg (and the former British deputy prime minister) said the review found Trump no longer posed a serious threat to public safety. The public “should be able to hear what their politicians are saying,” Clegg said.

After Joe Biden won the election, then-President Trump used his social media accounts in January 2021 to encourage his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and disrupt the presidential election certification process when his Account is suspended.

In response to Meta’s decision, Trump posted on his own social media company, Truth Social, on Wednesday that Facebook “lost billions” after banning “your favorite president, me.” He wrote: “Such a thing should never happen again to a sitting president or anyone else who should not be retaliated against!”

Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, financial markets and the world economy.

Andy HaldaneThe former chief economist of the Bank of England, now chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts and adviser to government upgrades, predicts that real wages will fall again this year as higher mortgage costs continue to have an impact. He also warned that the recent political turmoil had caused the UK economy to underperform. But he also said that with inflation having peaked, the central bank could raise rates more slowly and see “a glimmer of light in the economy”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Haldane argued that the UK economy was less resilient to economic crises due to underinvestment and poor coordination between the public, private and philanthropic sectors.

First the terrible double whammy of Covid and then the cost of living crisis has and is putting enormous financial pressure on many businesses, many families and of course many charities.

We’ve lost fifteen years in terms of inflation-adjusted raises.Last year we saw real wages fall and we are likely to see the same happen again, which is causing serious financial stress, indeed mental stress, for many families, which is one of the results of the lack of growth, or certainly We think growth is sluggish ‘seen

Asked whether political instability had contributed to the UK’s recent economic underperformance, he said:

When you do have a ministerial merry-go-round, that increases the likelihood that measures are not being followed through and programs that are working are not being scaled up. We are still somewhat lacking in a medium-term growth plan for this country that we can insist any government and any minister put in place.

Asked if he regrets that the Bank of England has raised rates at the same time as massive energy price increases and inflation:

It’s been painful, and I fear there will be more pain as last year’s rise in mortgage rates starts hitting people’s bank accounts this year. I would prefer the BoE and other central banks to start raising rates sooner. That will help nip inflation in the bud and mean we won’t be doing those quick rate hikes while the economy hits a buffer. But in general, such global shocks will always bring a large degree of pain, including through higher interest rates.

I’m hoping that with headline inflation now peaking, there’s a good chance the central bank will slow down over the course of the year and not put too much of a damper on the recovery, and the early signs of this are some flashes of economic life point.

The Bank of Canada said yesterday it would pause rate hikes after raising rates for the eighth time to 4.5%, and some expect the Fed to do the same.

The focus of today’s market is on US GDP data In the fourth quarter, economic growth is expected to slow to 2.6% from 3.2% in the previous quarter.

Asian stocks MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 percent to a fifth day of gains after retreating again, hitting a seven-month high. Trading was thin, however, as parts of Asia, including China, were still celebrating the Lunar New Year as markets in Australia were closed for a holiday. European market Expected to open higher ahead of US GDP release.

agenda

• 9am GMT: Italy business and consumer confidence for January

• 11am GMT: UK CBI retail sales survey for January

• 1.30pm GMT: US Q4 GDP (forecast: 2.6%, previous: 3.2%)

• 1.30pm GMT: US Durable Goods Orders for December

• 1.30pm GMT: US weekly jobless claims