BoE Health Check on the UK Economy

The Bank of England has released its latest health check on the stability (or otherwise) of the UK financial system.

Without a recovery in financial sector balance sheets and a return of an appetite to lend and unfreeze the supply of credit, any recovery will be delayed and weak.

Banks continue to de-leverage aggressively and I have met several owners of profitable and well managed smaller businesses in recent weeks who have complained that their banks are getting in touch directly to change the conditions of their credit facilities. In some cases the banks are adding 1 or 2 per cent to the rates charged for overdrafts and loans - which themselves are already a high multiple of the policy interest rate. It is the banking equivalent of the rip-off extra charges for people flying with the lower-cost airlines.

The Financial Times has a snappy slide-show drawing on some of the Bank’s own charts - this can be found here although it may only be available to FT subscribers. The Bank’s Financial Stability Report can be accessed here. And here is a BBC news article on the report.

Stephanie Flanders explains Quantitative Easing in 60 seconds [9 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Can the UK Computer Games Industry Grow [24 Jan 2012]
Beyond the Bike - The Importance of Remittances [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: UK Bond Yields Reach Record Lows [11 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Quantitative Easing in the UK [8 Jan 2012]
2012 - Carnage on the High Street [28 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Mobile Phones and African Economic Growth [18 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Patent Wars- A Touchy Subject for Apple [16 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Brand Loyalty in Mobile Phones [27 Nov 2011]
Where is the UK Economy? National Output [22 Nov 2011]
Beyond the Bike - The Value of Money [19 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Should the EU introduce a Tobin Tax? [14 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Eurozone crisis - a selection of resources [12 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: A New £50 comes into circulation [2 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: UK Executive Pay - All in it Together? [29 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Greek debt decision tree [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Interest Rates and Income Inequality [16 Sep 2011]
Another Economics prop - for remembering MC=MR! [15 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Quiz on Business Costs and Profits [25 Aug 2011]
Monetary Policy Roundtable [25 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Volatile Corn Prices [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Where there’s muck there’s brass [6 Jul 2011]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Demand Pull Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Spare Capacity [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition Policy [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Entry Barriers in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro:  Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Consequences of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Examples of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Perfect Competition [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition and Efficiency [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Outsourcing [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Business Growth [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation Efficiency and Welfare [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Moving Away from Profit Max [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Minimum Efficient Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Economies of Scope [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
AS Macro: Updated presentation on monetary policy [4 May 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
Wiki Revision: A to Z on Monopoly [23 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: Changes in Costs and Profits [23 Apr 2011]
Rise in investment could kick start recovery [18 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Competition and Monopoly [17 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Costs and Profits [16 Apr 2011]
Smartphones and Creative Destruction [16 Apr 2011]
A2 Macro: Back to Roubini - a Year On! [11 Apr 2011]
OCR F585 June 2011: Euro Area on the Rocks? [11 Apr 2011]
ECB breaks rank and raises interest rates [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Expansionary Monetary Policy [4 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: Updates on Competition Issues [2 Apr 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Banana Prices [1 Apr 2011]
Why is the Yen appreciating? [18 Mar 2011]
AS Macro Revision: Investment Spending [12 Mar 2011]
Ireland - Mass Unemployment and Shrinking GDP [10 Mar 2011]
UK Economy - BOE Policy Interest Rate [10 Mar 2011]
Tenner Tycoon - enterprise competition [7 Mar 2011]
Economics Q&A: What factors help to explain rising food prices? [14 Feb 2011]
Shared Value and the Limitations of CSR [12 Feb 2011]
David Smith on Shifting Sands in the Global Economy [8 Feb 2011]
Regulation and the banking industry: reflections from Davos [30 Jan 2011]
Shorting the market - the vultures target HMV [23 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Can economics provide answers to the crisis of collapsing stocks in global fishing? [19 Jan 2011]
Tesco - Time to start a price war! [19 Jan 2011]
Will we have to live with high unemployment? [17 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: How might rising food prices affect food retailers and manufacturers in the UK? [16 Jan 2011]
Analysis and evaluation practice of the monetary policy decision [13 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of a period of rising world food prices [4 Jan 2011]
Heinz Means Strikes [29 Dec 2010]
HMV on the brink? [9 Dec 2010]
Growth and Strategy at Domino’s Pizza [27 Nov 2010]
Energy Oligopoly - Price Investigation is Launched [26 Nov 2010]
iLand - Shareholders and Taxpayers feel the Pain [24 Nov 2010]
Using Google Docs - A2 Applied Micro on Collusion [21 Nov 2010]
What You Need to Know About Economics [18 Nov 2010]
Yet another airline cartel story….. [9 Nov 2010]
Experimenting with Google Docs - the Rise of a Digital Conglomerate [8 Nov 2010]
The Market for Potash [30 Oct 2010]
A2 Micro: Monopoly Price and Output [28 Oct 2010]

ECONOMICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER

Join over 6,000 other Economics Teachers in the UK and around the world who receive the tutor2u regular Economics Resource Email Newsletter. Get special offers, first news of latest resources, teaching ideas, conferences and workshops + loads of great ideas for teaching economics from our blog authors.