Bank of England

Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party's new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office today as Britain's new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis.

Political uncertainty and growing economic woes, including spiralling inflation and the threat of a recession, are weighing heavily on the British pound, against both the U.S. dollar and the also struggling euro.    

In 2020, as Britain faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, it saw its biggest fall in output for more than 300 years, and a bigger fall than any other major economy showed updated official figures.

Britain's economy rebounded in May, official data showed yesterday, dampening fears of a slowdown despite surging inflation and rising interest rates.    

Gross domestic product expanded 0.5 percent, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement, beating expectations of zero growth.    

Recent upheaval in the cryptocurrency markets shows the sector is subject to similar risks as conventional investments, underscoring the need for regulation to protect against the "false allure" of a quick profit, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard has said.

Bitcoin is up around 1% in 24 hours to $20,400. Ethereum added 3.2%, while other top 10 altcoins gained between 0.7% (Dogecoin) and 2.8% (XRP). Buyers have braced themselves on the back of positive stock indexes despite the strengthening Dollar. 

Finding the right monetary policy response to tackle soaring inflation is an "art," European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has said.

"It is not a science," Lagarde said on June 29 at a panel at the ECB's annual central banking conference in Portugal.
"What we are doing there is an element of art," she said.

Central banks have ramped up their battle against runaway inflation, a necessary remedy that could have the adverse side effect of tipping countries into recession, analysts say.

The Bank of Japan on June 17 stuck to its long-held monetary easing policy even as other central banks around the world hike interest rates to tame inflation.    

But it said it would "pay due attention" to foreign exchange markets, a rare comment that comes after the yen hit a 24-year low against the dollar.    

British economic output declined for a second month in a row in April, weighed down by decades-high inflation, official data showed yesterday.    

Gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in April after a drop of 0.1 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.