We’ve summarised the top stories of the last week into an easily digestible briefing, so that you can stay up to date on what’s happening around the world. You can subscribe to receive the briefing in your inbox each week.

UK Business & Economics

  1. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been alerted that the status of the UK’s public finances has deteriorated by £70bn. The Office for Budget Responsibility told the Treasury that the 2026-2027 budget deficit forecast has expanded to almost £100bn from £31.6bn.
  2. London is no longer Europe’s most-valued stock market according to data from the FTSE 250 for the first time since 2003. Paris has an estimated share worth of $2,823 trillion whilst London is now around $2.821 trillion according to Bloomberg.
  3. UK households are beginning to receive energy bill rebates as part of the Warm Home Discount scheme. The rebate was frozen at £140 for almost a decade but has increased to £150 for the winter of 2022. The discount will be automatically deducted from bills.

International Business & Economics

  1. FTX, previously one of the world’s largest crypto-exchanges, filed for bankruptcy following a liquidity-crunch, failing to meet withdrawal requests of $8 billion. Cryptocurrency prices have crashed following the announcement.
  2. Sri Lanka has announced plans to integrate with key markets in India and China as a means out of its current economic crisis. This follows from September this year when the nation clinched a deal with the IMF for a 4-year $2bn bailout.
  3. US inflation has eased to 7.7% in the year running up to October. This is down 0.5% from September and suggests that the US is moving away from peak inflation according to Matthew Luzzetti, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank AG.
  4. The German government’s panel of independent economic advisors forecasted the German economy will shrink by 0.2% in 2023. Alongside this, they predicted an average annual inflation rate of 7.4%, a little below this years rate of 8%.
  5. The IMF has reported that global economic growth is set to be around 2.7% for the next year. This data has been largely collected from declining growth rates across the G20 nations.

UK Politics

  1. The UK will pay France a further £8 million a year under a revised deal in attempts at stopping people crossing the channel in small boats, which has risen to record levels this year.
  2. Rishi Sunak vowed to deliver on market expectations of shoring up the public finances, claiming this week’s autumn statement would put public finances on a “sustainable trajectory” and fix Truss’s mistakes.
  3. George Eustice, former environment secretary, told MPs that the UK gave away “far too much for far too little” in its free trade deal with Australia and New Zealand, blaming Liz Truss for the situation.

International Politics

  1. Joe Biden promised attendees of COP27 that the US was on track to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 50% of its 2005 levels by 2030. Reactions were mixed, with Germany praising the “positive signals” whilst others criticised his administration for its lack of international financial commitments towards climate-change.
  2. Ukrainian forces entered the city of Kherson, raising Ukrainian flags in the regional capital as Russian forces retreated. Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry had said it completed a full withdrawal of troops from the western bank of the Dnieper river in the Kherson province.
  3. Democrats have kept control of the Senate after the crucial race in Nevada was announced in their favour, beating expectations for the midterms as a whole.
  4. Diplomats have been called in to resolve an issue between India and a German-state-backed energy firm after supplies of liquefied natural gas were cut.
  5. The new Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is anticipated to pose a challenge to US-Israeli ties due to the likely inclusion of two ultra-nationalist and Jewish supremacist parties.

Written by Philip Weaver and Rob Webb

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