Poland cuts household gas prices, raising chances of lower interest rates
Gas distribution fees remain unchanged, which will result in average gas bills falling by between 8.1% and 11% depending on the volume of consumption, the regulator, URE, said on Thursday.
Gas prices for households are set by the regulator and have a major impact on inflation. Uncertainty over energy prices has been the main factor behind central bank's reluctance to cut interest rates faster.
As a result of the cut in gas prices, inflation may fall close to 2.5%, the mid-point of the central bank's target range, in July, and the central bank may cut rates further, ING economists said on X following the announcement.
"Our current scenario assuming 75 basis points of cuts by the end of the year and to 3.75% in 2026 is the minimum scenario," they said. The rate is currently 5.25%.
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The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
Keir Starmer's plan will send back just 0.2 per cent of illegal migrants – it's pathetic – but I've got tips hapless PM
HOLD the front page! This is it! The Government has at last discovered a way to sort out our illegal migrant crisis. Sir Keir Starmer has struck a deal with the French. Yay. There will be a one-in, one-out system for illegal migrants arriving in rubber boats from France. So that's great, isn't it? For every migrant we send back to France, the French bung us one who has filled his forms in properly in return. So how on Earth is that going to reduce the numbers arriving here? By definition, it won't. And what's more, we're paying for it all. The UK taxpayer will foot the bill. And that's because the Prime Minister has the negotiating skills of half a grapefruit. Asked how many migrants this will see us sending back to France, the Government started looking at its shoes and humming a tune. Off the record they will hazard at a figure. It will be somewhere in the region of 50. Yes, 50. Just to give you the full picture, an estimated 25,000 have already arrived in the UK from France this year. So Sir Keir is proposing to send back just 0.2 per cent of the illegal migrants. Triffic, huh. And the deal only lasts for a year. It's not going to act as much of a deterrent, is it? Can you imagine the migrants being told: 'Well, OK, you can try to cross the Channel in that dinghy if you must. But I have to tell you, Asif, when you get to England you stand only a 94 per cent chance of being allowed to stay. Bear that in mind!' It would be laughable were it not so utterly, mind-blowingly, pathetic. Loophole in PM's swap plan means the more bogus an asylum seeker is, the less chance we have of kicking them out The truth is the Government's intention to 'smash the gangs!' hasn't worked and never was going to work. 'Smash' one gang and another will pop up to take its place. But it would be refreshing, at least, to hear Starmer and his pet Moomin, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, admit at last that the policy was bloody stupid and has failed just as everyone predicted. And so this is what we've got in its place. One-in, one-out. Brilliant. Starmer's hokey-cokey vision of controlling migration. The truth is that Yvette and Surkeir know full well that this is going to make not the slightest difference to the numbers arriving here from the Middle East and beyond. It is a silly and costly performative gesture, nothing more. The Government knows that the public is infuriated by the sheer numbers of asylum seekers arriving every day. It is a public sick of immigration, full stop. And the Government is losing masses of votes to Reform UK as a consequence. 4 Especially in the red wall seats of the north of England. But also in Kent and Essex. So it thought it had better do something. And this is what it came up with. Here's a tip, Starmer. First, stop using hotels to house all those who come. Put them in tents somewhere cold. Second, make it clear that EVERY asylum seeker who arrives here illegally will be automatically barred from ever getting the right to remain here. And then send those who do come to somewhere remote and inhospitable but under British dominion, so the lawyers can't carp. Such as Rockall, or St Helena, or South Georgia. But don't hold yer breath. With this lot in charge, it will never happen. KEIR'S NOT IN CHARGE WE are no longer being led, as a country, by Sir Keir Starmer. Now, you may think this is a good thing, by and large. Until you consider who is actually leading us. Yes, it's Richard 'Plank' Burgon and his lefty mates. The decisions which Starmer has been taking for the past three months are likely not those he would wish to make. They have been imposed upon him by the left-wingers on his backbenches. The debacle over the recognition of Palestine, for example. And the surrender over welfare benefits. Both obvious indicators of change of regime. And it has all happened because Sir Keir, with his majority of more than 170, has a spinal column the consistency of Butterscotch Angel Delight. What the hell were we thinking last summer? Why did we do it? Oh Lord, forgive us for our stupid mistakes. DANES WILL GO WILD FOR FEEDING TIME AT THE ZOO A ZOO in Denmark is asking for donations of 'unwanted pets'. This is so it can feed them to the big cats. They're a bit short of raw meat, apparently. The Danes will euthanise the pets first, which I think is a bit of a disappointment. I think feeding time could be a big draw. 'And now entering the lion enclosure is Fiver, a rabbit owned by six-year-old Inge Svenson. Let's see how long he lasts. The record is 8.5 seconds. Can Fiver beat that?' THE kinder, gentler, Left? I don't think so. Teacher Simon Pearson had more than 20 years' experience but was sacked after an internal investigation found his online posts could bring Preston College into disrepute after he said the jailing of Lucy Connolly was an example of two-tier justice. Connolly is the woman jailed for 31 months for saying horrible things about asylum seekers. Pearson made it clear he believed Connolly's comments were 'obviously wrong'. He just objected to the sentence – as many do. Sacked for holding an opinion which differed from that of the idiots who run the college. CAMDEN Council is considering banning meat and fish from its various canteens. In future, all meals and snacks will be entirely 'plant-based'. So what will happen is that the entire staff will soon be hobbling around with joint deficiencies, anaemia as well as stunning the locals with gusts of fabulously bad breath. But at least Camden is saving the polar bears and stopping the world from catching on fire. Never mind what the workers would prefer to eat – sod them! That's the left-wing way. REEVES IS SO TAXING THE worst Chancellor we have ever had is about to sting you for some more dosh. Rachel Reeves has been backed into a corner. She knows she needs to raise money. 4 But she has been stopped from cutting benefits by the idiots on the left. So now she's pondering a wealth tax. That means the flood of high-achieving people leaving the country will turn into a deluge. We'll all feel the pinch. You'll get stung for more if you try to sell a home, or buy one. Stung for more when paying for the nice things in life. She'll have you paying more for your children's education. Taxed if you save for a rainy day. Everything aspirational will be taxed. A YOUGOV poll out this week suggests that 45 per cent of us wish for immigration to reduce to zero. And for a substantial number of those who have come here recently to be sent back. Those are remarkable figures. After having been lied to about immigration for year after year, the public is at last waking up and letting its views be known.
Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
Fed policymakers signal rising angst about cooling economy
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Less than a week after deciding against an interest-rate cut, some Federal Reserve policymakers are signaling rising angst about a cooling U.S. labor market and a slowing economy, even as they continue to express uncertainty about the outlook for inflation, which remains stuck above the Fed's 2% goal. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Wednesday said that for him, it all adds up to a case for interest rate cuts in coming months. "The economy is slowing, and that means in the near term it may become appropriate to start adjusting," Kashkari said on CNBC's Squawk Box, adding that two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts by the end of the year "seems reasonable to me." Recent data "suggests the real underlying economy is slowing. I've got confidence that that is happening," Kashkari said. "How long can we wait until the tariff effects become clear? That's just weighing on me right now." Speaking early this week to Reuters, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said it could take six months or more to learn whether the Trump administration's tariffs will push up inflation persistently. Meanwhile, while she was "willing" to leave rates on hold last week, the slowing labor market makes her increasingly uncomfortable about making that same decision in upcoming meetings, she said. Like Kashkari, she views two rate cuts this year as probably appropriate, though given the state of the economy she said that doing more than two rate cuts is more likely than doing fewer. Neither Kashkari nor Daly has a vote on interest rate policy this year, but their arguments are similar to those made by two Fed governors who dissented at the Fed's decision last week to hold the policy rate steady while awaiting more clarity on how rising import tariffs will feed through to consumer prices. Two days after the meeting, the Labor Department released a monthly jobs report that showed weaker-than-expected job growth in July and big downward revisions to payroll estimates for May and June. "This is concerning," Fed Governor Lisa Cook said of the report, noting that revisions typically occur at inflection points in the economy. Cook did not say how the fresh labor market data has influenced her view on appropriate monetary policy. She, like Kashkari and Daly, said she is also focused on whether any increase in prices will be one time or more persistent. "It is critical that we try to understand better which one this could be, but it's limited and the information we have is limited and the way we can incorporate it into our models is limited," she said. President Donald Trump, who has pushed for sharply lower interest rates, has said he will nominate a new member to the Fed's Board shortly, following Fed Governor Adriana Kugler's surprise resignation last week. It's unclear if the new governor would function as a Fed chief-in-waiting until Jerome Powell completes his term as Fed chair on May 15, or would merely serve out the rest of Kugler's term, which runs to the end of January.
Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
There are questions Beijing must answer about its Embassy plans
The saga of the new Chinese Embassy in London has reached its climax. Having bought the Royal Mint, a huge and historic site of more than five acres opposite the Tower of London, for £255m in 2018, Beijing is now developing it. Much of this building would be used for normal cultural and diplomatic purposes. But the plans include a vast basement with no obvious function. More concerningly, details of these plans have been redacted in Beijing's application. There are justifiable fears that the basement could become a high-tech centre for espionage, surveillance and monitoring of Chinese nationals. The basement might even include facilities where pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong could be interrogated. Lawyers for the Chinese are already exploring legal loopholes to extradite its opponents and rewards are offered to those who turn them in. The decision on granting planning permission now rests with the Housing Secretary. Angela Rayner is, of course, also the Deputy Prime Minister. As such she will be more concerned about global than local issues. Britain's economic dependence on China means that it seems most unlikely that Ms Rayner will refuse planning permission, apart from minor modifications. But it is welcome that she has at least asked for an explanation as to why the plans have been redacted. This is, however, an issue that transcends normal diplomatic relations. We cannot allow the largest embassy in Europe to be erected in such a strategic location in London without proper parliamentary and press scrutiny. Ms Rayner must elicit more information from the Chinese about what would go on inside their proposed basement. Until the Beijing authorities are more forthcoming about their intentions, the public is entitled to presume that they are sinister.
