Digital Look

Tuesday newspaper round-up: OECD sees UK recovery

Date: Tuesday 12 May 2009

Hopes are mounting that the worst of the recession is over for Britain, after influential organisations and investors said that there were clear signs of economic recovery.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said yesterday there were indications that the country was experiencing a “pause in the economic slowdown,” reports the Times.

Jean-Claude Trichet also signalled on Monday that the global downturn had bottomed out with some large economies already able to put the recession behind them and look forward to renewed growth. The European Central Bank president’s comments on Monday in Basel, Switzerland, had added weight because he was speaking on behalf of the world’s leading central bankers, not just for the eurozone, adds the FT.

More tentative signs of economic recovery are expected when estate agents report that inquiries from new home buyers hit a ten-year high in April and high street sales shot up. Figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors indicate that 41% more chartered surveyors reported new buyer inquiries rising rather than falling last month, reports the Times.

The FT adds that the prices paid for property at auction still have a long way to fall, but the outlook for the housing market is not quite as dire as a few months ago. New research suggests that in recent weeks prices of residential properties sold at auction were 25% lower than the same home could have achieved had it been sold through an estate agent.

Governments and central bankers must take the blame for the financial crisis - not bankers, investors and others in the market, according to a new study. In a comprehensive analysis of the causes for the financial and economic crisis, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has concluded that the disaster was caused by authorities' mistakes rather than market failures, reports the Telegraph.

Some of Britain's biggest banks could have their shares listed in Shanghai after the conclusion of high-level diplomatic talks between Britain and China in London on Monday. The initiative to open up China's markets to foreign companies was confirmed by Chinese authorities and could lead to a Shanghai listing by HSBC before the end of the year, reports the Times.

Virgin Media is understood to have drawn up a shortlist of three potential buyers for its VMtv channels. Channel 4, Time Warner and BSkyB are understood to have made it through to the second round of the auction for VMtv, whose channels include Bravo and Living, home to such programmes as Britain’s Next Top Model, reports the Times.

A committee of MPs will call for a reform of the relationship between the big pub companies and tenants, citing it as a key factor in the continuing acceleration in the number of pub closures, the Times has learnt.

Tough economic times have not yet translated into a spike in sackings of chief executives of the world’s biggest companies. In spite of financial turmoil and sharp falls in corporate profitability, top job turnover rose only slightly worldwide in 2008, according to a Booz & Company study due to be released on Tuesday, reports the FT.