The Bank's survey found that concern about the economic outlook and falling asset values had prompted banks to limit lending, risking a downward spiral of falling property prices, increased loan defaults and tighter credit. The rep-ort, which predicted further reining in of lending in the current quarter, came on top of gloomy data from the manufacturing and housing sectors.Manufacturing shrank for the eighth straight month in December, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply survey. Mortgage approvals in November were at their lowest since the Bank of England started collecting figures in 1999, while a Halifax survey showed a record annual fall in house prices of 16.2 per cent.The batch of grim data sent the pound down against the dollar and the euro, which hovered just short of record highs above 98p reached earlier in the week.
The Bank's survey found that concern about the economic outlook and falling asset values had prompted banks to limit lending, risking a downward spiral of falling property prices, increased loan defaults and tighter credit. The rep-ort, which predicted further reining in of lending in the current quarter, came on top of gloomy data from the manufacturing and housing sectors.
Manufacturing shrank for the eighth straight month in December, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply survey. Mortgage approvals in November were at their lowest since the Bank of England started collecting figures in 1999, while a Halifax survey showed a record annual fall in house prices of 16.2 per cent.
The batch of grim data sent the pound down against the dollar and the euro, which hovered just short of record highs above 98p reached earlier in the week.
(Could someone explain the above news? What's a gilt?) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Tour operators have increased the price of summer holidays by up to 40 per cent this year, raising the cost of an average family break to the Mediterranean by as much as £500, according to research for The Independent. Sterling's slump against the euro and other currencies and rising prices in "bargain basement" Turkey and Egypt will put the cost of a week on a foreign beach in August beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands of families hit by the downturn.
Tour operators have increased the price of summer holidays by up to 40 per cent this year, raising the cost of an average family break to the Mediterranean by as much as £500, according to research for The Independent.
Sterling's slump against the euro and other currencies and rising prices in "bargain basement" Turkey and Egypt will put the cost of a week on a foreign beach in August beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands of families hit by the downturn.
