Monday 20 August 2018

Greece has completed its three-year eurozone bailout programme. This means that, for the first time in eight years, the country is free to borrow money on the financial markets. Although the Greek economy has grown slowly in recent years, it is still 25% smaller than when the crisis began. The loans handed to Greece since 2010 totaled more than €260bn - the largest bailout in global financial history.

Britain’s manufacturing industry has fallen to ninth in the world behind France. Although its total manufacturing output stayed ahead of Brazil and Indonesia, it slipped below France and remained far off Germany in fourth position and Italy in seventh at the end of 2016. China kept the top spot ahead of the US and Japan. South Korea and India were fifth and sixth respectively.

Business leaders are less confident in their outlook for the economy than at any point this year, according to the Institute of Directors. Pessimism is growing due to concerns over Brexit negotiations, rising interest rates and trade tensions. The IoD’s monthly confidence tracker dropped to a score of -16% in July as negative views outweighed the positive. Tej Parikh, a senior economist at the group, said "the downbeat mood is endemic".