ROOF Blog

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said yesterday that financial service firms must make sure their customers understand what they are letting themselves in for when signing up for mortgages, consider loans and other products. The OECD has just released new guidelines designed to avoid a repeat of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent credit crunch that caused the worldwide recession.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK economy shrank by 2.44 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 – the fastest rate in more than 50 years, and much worse than expected. Gross domestic product has fallen 4.9 per cent in year on year figures – the largest drop on record.

In related news the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has told the government to cut its budget deficit by a larger amount than it currently intends, or it will face major problems in the coming years. The OECD said that Britain’s deficit would climb to 90 per cent of economic output – much higher than the 80 per cent projected by the Treasury in the Budget – and in order to maintain the economy the government should target ‘more ambitious’ budget cut backs, rather than raising tax.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned the Bank of England (BoE) needed to press ahead with interest rate cuts, as the treasury is running out of options to produce further tax or spending boosts to help the ailing British economy. Britain has been identified as being among several economies that look particularly vulnerable along with Hungary, Iceland Spain and Turkey. The OECD urged the BoE to continue its policy to cut rates as the ‘negative wealth effects on household consumption from falling house prices and financial wealth may be greater than assumed’.