Consumers could face price rises of 20% in 2025, trade experts warn

The price of household staples including food and drink could climb by as much as 20% in 2025 if challenges with sourcing and transporting goods continue, an industry body has warned.The cost of electronics, machinery, chemicals and petroleum products could also rise, said the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), as a result of geopolitical instability, including tensions in the Middle East, supply chain disruption and cybersecurity issues.Buying and supplying items including food and drink could cost businesses as much as a fifth more this year, which they will pass on to consumers, according to the international trade association, which represents 64,000 member organisations in procurement and supply chains across 150 countries.The cost of everyday products could be pushed even higher if Donald Trump follows through on threats to apply tariffs to goods entering the US after his inauguration as president on 20 January.International shipping costs have been rising in recent months as global freight companies faced a string of challenges in moving goods around the world

UK long-term borrowing costs rise to highest since 1998 – as it happened

As reported earlier, the UK’s long-term borrowing costs have risen to the highest level since 1998, as the government gears up for a number of bond sales this year.The yield, or interest rate, on 30-year gilts, as UK government bonds are known, climbed by four basis points to 5.22% after a bond auction.The rise in borrowing costs is increasing pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to keep the market on side ahead of a raft of bond sales.The Labour government plans to sell £297bn of bonds this fiscal year — the second-highest on record, Bloomberg News reported

Mark Carney: the ‘rock star central banker’ weighing up run to be Canada’s PM

Mark Carney, who has said he is considering a run to replace Justin Trudeau as the Canadian premier, spent seven years in the UK as the Bank of England governor.Carney was headhunted in 2013 by the then chancellor, George Osborne, after serving as the governor of the Bank of Canada, and was known at the time by the unlikely epithet of “rock star central banker”.He remains an influential figure on the global economic stage, and Rachel Reeves hailed his endorsement at the 2023 Labour conference – given by video message – as the party sought to present itself as economically credible. Carney called Reeves a “serious economist” who “understands the economics of work, of place and family”.Carney arrived in London determined to bring change to the stuffy Bank

‘Just make people come in on the second Thursday of the month’: workspace provider Mark Dixon on the WFH debate

The head of the flexible office company IWG is a big fan of hybrid shifts and says ‘working close to home’ is the way forwardWorking from home isn’t generally a success for Mark Dixon. “I’m too easily distracted,” he says. “You have to be quite disciplined to be a successful home worker, whether that’s for one day or five days.”The tycoon’s admission will not raise any eyebrows given his ­decades-long role running FTSE‑listed IWG (International Workplace Group) – one of the world’s largest office space providers, valued at £1.6bn

Next to increase prices to help pay for budget tax changes

Next has said it will increase prices by 1% this year to help offset a £67m rise in wage costs driven by budget tax changes, which it expects will slow UK sales growth this year.The fashion and homewares retailer said the tax increases for employers announced by the government in October and their potential impact on prices and the job market “begin to filter through into the economy”.However, the Next chief executive, Simon Wolfson, said the alterations to price and sales expectations were “not a big change” and he did not think the budget changes had hit trading in the run-up to Christmas.The group upped its profit forecasts by £5m after better than expected sales in the key festive trading period.Lord Wolfson said mild weather, which hit sales of coats, boots and knitwear, and other factors were likely to have had more impact

UK food price inflation hits 3.7%, the highest level since March

Food price inflation jumped to 3.7% last month, the highest level since March, helping fuel a bumper season for supermarkets.Sales at the big grocery chains were up 2.1% over the four weeks to 29 December compared with a year before, according to the analysts Kantar. However, that rise was flattered by food price growth, which jumped more than one percentage point from 2