Author: LoveWorld UK

Britain’s oil and gas sector needs government help to survive, industry body OGUK said, after the oil price crash triggered by the coronavirus and a Saudi-Russian price war threatens its ability to continue producing hydrocarbons in the North Sea. EnQuest (ENQ.L) became the first British producer to shut North Sea fields in the wake of the oil price LCOc1 slump to 17-year lows, saying it will not restart its Heather and Thistle/Deveron fields. For industry as a whole, Britain has already said it would launch a 330 billion pound lifeline of loan guarantees and provide a further 20 billion pounds…

British manufacturers demanded an immediate deferment of tax and social security payments, warning the government that thousands of layoffs were imminent as the coronavirus crisis hits the economy. “There are alarm bells going off right across the manufacturing sector with the prospect of substantial lay-offs looming,” Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK, said in a statement on Thursday. “Order books are collapsing and this is creating immediate cashflow issues for companies which need addressing within days not weeks.” The group welcomed measures rushed out by British finance minister Rishi Sunak to help companies, many of which are facing virtual…

The United Kingdom was bracing on Thursday for the virtual shut down of London as underground train stations across the capital closed and Prime Minister Boris Johnson mulled tougher measures to tackle the coronavirus crisis. As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governments, companies and investors are grappling with the biggest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, panicked populations and imploding financial markets. After ordering the closure of schools across a country that casts itself as a pillar of Western stability, Johnson on Wednesday said the government was ruling nothing out when asked whether he would bring…

The British government has agreed emergency measures with the energy industry to ensure vulnerable households remain supplied with power during the disruption caused by the novel coronavirus, it said on Thursday. From Thursday onwards, customers with pre-payment meters who are unable to add credit can approach their suppliers to discuss other options to maintain power. That has the potential to benefit over 4 million households. Disconnection of credit meters will be completely suspended, while energy customers in financial distress can also ask their suppliers for debt repayments and bill payments to be reassessed, reduced or paused, the government said. The…

Government bond yields across the euro zone fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank stepped in with emergency stimulus measures to calm markets in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The ECB began new bond purchases worth 750 billion euros at an emergency meeting late on Wednesday, in a bid to stop a pandemic-induced financial rout from shredding the euro zone’s economy. The new purchases bring this year’s planned purchases to 1.1 trillion euros. The new purchases alone are worth 6% of the euro area’s GDP. Italy, which has seen its borrowing costs jump in recent days, led the…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday his government would bring forward new measures to support workers and protect private renters from being evicted from their homes because of coronavirus. Johnson also said Britain was stepping up testing for coronavirus to 25,000 a day. The health ministry later said the government aimed to get to that point within four weeks. “We will be bringing forward further measures to ensure that every worker receives support throughout this difficult period,” Johnson told parliament. Asked about the possibility of introducing a temporary universal basic income, Johnson said: “Of course that is one…

Germany’s HDE retail association called on Wednesday for the government to give immediate state aid and tax relief to stop businesses going bust as stores closed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, losing 7 billion euros ($7.70 billion) per week. “Massive loss of turnover is destroying thousands of independent companies and millions of jobs,” HDE President Josef Sanktjohanser said in a statement that announced he had written to Chancellor Angela Merkel to ask for help. HDE said the ordering of store closures would lead to a loss of sales of around 1.15 billion euros per day or 7 billion…

Oil prices fell for a third session on Wednesday with U.S. crude futures tumbling to a 17-year low as travel and social lockdowns sparked by the coronavirus epidemic knocked the outlook for demand. U.S. crude Clc1 was down $1.49 cents, or 5.53%, at $25.46 per barrel by 1006 GMT, having earlier fallen to $25.08, its lowest since late April 2003. Brent crude LCOc1 was trading down 84 cents, or around 3%, at $27.89 a barrel, after dropping to $27.56, its lowest since early 2016. “The oil demand collapse from the spreading coronavirus looks increasingly sharp,” Goldman Sachs said in a…

Bank borrowed more than $15 billion from the Bank of England’s U.S. dollar repo operations on Wednesday, part of measures announced by six central banks to keep the financial system working during the coronavirus outbreak. The BoE said it lent $8.210 billion of seven-day funds in its usual weekly dollar repo operation, and $7.245 billion in a new operation for 84-day funds which forms part of the new liquidity measures announced with other central banks. The BoE said it fulfilled all the requests that it received for the borrowing, which is secured against collateral. Source: Reuters.

Schools across Britain were struggling to stay open on Wednesday, with some forced to partially or fully close as staff and students stayed at home because of the spread of coronavirus. The closures come amid confusion about why schools are being advised to stay open when the government has stepped up advice to curb social contact to try to slow the spread of the virus. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders union, said head teachers were saying they were struggling to keep their institutions open beyond Friday. “Some very seasoned head teachers have…