Bank of England cuts UK economic growth forecasts
Rising fuel costs continue to strike at the heart of rural communities. They also create a perfect storm economically; stifling economic growth in the form of increased input costs for business and poison things still further by stoking up corrosive inflation, whilst interest rates remain low to try and encourage investment.
Sorry for the rant which was all triggered off by this, on the face of it relatively inane article, in the Guardian running the story: “On inflation, King [Mervyn] said that higher commodity and import prices, and the increase in the standard rate of VAT, was pushing up the cost of living more rapidly than expected in February. He said that higher utility bills were likely to drive the consumer prices index (CPI) up to 5% this year.”
The decision not to increase fuel duty is a distant memory now and in the face of petrol prices which have gone up by 50% over the last year seems futile.
We are by nature a very tolerant and considerate bunch, but I wonder if, in rural and urban communities across Britain, things might not just to start to reach a social breaking point in terms of this issue.
Particularly if some of the relatively small number of companies which control our energy costs continue to make huge profits while contributing to an increasingly grim recession in terms of price rises?