RBS ‘regrets loss’
Aug 8 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette
ROYAL Bank of Scotland today unveiled its first loss in 40 years as a public company after suffering writedowns of £5.9bn. The group reported statutory pre-tax losses of £692m for the six months to June 30 - which compares with profits of £5bn the previous year. Chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, who was forced to launched a £12bn rights issue earlier this year to shore up the firm’s balance sheet, said the loss was a “chastening experience” that “I and my colleagues regret very much”. NatWest owner RBS had already alerted investors to a £5.9bn credit crunch writedown when it launched the rights issue in April.
Agencies ‘a waste’
MORE than £15bn has been “wasted” on Regional Development Agencies in England, with local economies performing better before the “failed quangos” were set up, a report claimed today. The TaxPayers’ Alliance claimed the RDAs had contributed “nothing” since they were established in 1999, but had cost almost £600 per household. Abolishing the agencies would save enough money to cut 4p off small firms’ corporation tax, it was claimed. But regional development agency One NorthEast said from 2005-2007, it helped 15,805 people to get a job and assisted 32,103 businesses in improving their performance. The region had 1,200 more businesses at the beginning of 2007 than in 2006 - an increase of 2.4%. And benefit claimant numbers fell by 33% in the four years to January 2005, compared to the 19% fall nationally.
Rates outlook
FURTHER clues on the future path of interest rates are expected in the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report, due out next Wednesday. Yesterday the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee kept rates on hold at 5% despite mounting signs of recession and gloom in the housing market. Economists believe rates will remain on hold for the rest of the year
