Growth figures are healthier than expected, but beneath the surface unemployment and low wages depress living standardsFrankfurt’s stock market has reached a new high, topping 11,000 for the first time. According to the latest eurozone GDP figures, Germany enjoyed strong GDP growth in the last three months of the year and helped push expansion across the currency bloc to 0.3% for the quarter and 0.9% for the year. In Portugal and Spain, the headline growth figures improved. Even Italy beat analysts’ expectations after it avoided a decline.So the recovery is real. In fact, say the eurozone’s top policymakers, it’s all going so well the new Greek government should open its eyes and see the warm, golden glow of sunshine appearing on the horizon. Continue reading...

These billionaires get rich on the back of our taxes but they give nothing in returnThe news this week that a bank helped wealthy customers to dodge taxes should not come as a surprise to many. The super-rich have long held some profoundly distorted ideas about the world. They are more than averagely likely to believe their achievements are the product of their superior brains and hard work. They may believe the Selfish Gene rhetoric that those with the best genes rise to the top of the pond, and at the bottom is genetic sludge. They are oblivious to any evidence to the contrary. They have no idea that had they been born on a sink estate they too would have sunk.This is partly because the super-rich are no longer exposed to data and experiences that contradict their worldview. Flitting between their various homes around the world, they know nothing of our lives. They have never, ever had to sit on the phone waiting for the next available customer support agent – “your call really matters to us” – to not fix their phone/internet/energy bill issue.Related: How to make the wealthy pay tax | Jolyon MaughamThe super-rich have no idea that had they been born on a sink estate they too would have sunk Continue reading...

Brent crude oil prices hit highest level so far this year after collapsing to $45 last month from high of $115 last summer.Oil prices have risen above $60 a barrel for the first time this year amid signs that industry spending cuts might curb supply.Brent crude collapsed 60% from a high of $115 a barrel last summer to $45.19 in January, the lowest in almost six years, as a result of oversupply. Continue reading...

Hopes of a Greek deal and a recovery in oil and metal prices lifts UK marketLeading shares are heading towards their highest level since the dotcom boom in 1999. The FTSE 100 is now at 6872, up 44 points on the day and within 60 points of the closing peak of 6930 hit on 30 December 1999. The move follows a couple of attempts to reach new heights in 2014, but what has driven this latest tilt at the record? Continue reading...

Overall housebuilding experiences sharp drop in output, suggesting slowdown in housing market – but economists urged not to read too much into latest figures

Improvement on 0.2% growth in previous quarter raises hopes that Europe’s weak economic recovery is picking up pace

As the Asian powerhouse cools its extraordinary rate of expansion, Australia must hope that service industries pick up the export baton from the minersFor the first time in almost a quarter of a century, China begins its new year celebrations with a question mark over how the country will maintain its extraordinary growth. The economy is maturing and breakneck expansion is being supplanted by a shift towards services and away from manufacturing, construction and agriculture.For Australia, the implications of these changes are significant. Already, the growth in demand for iron ore and coal from China is slowing, driving the price of these two huge export earners for Australia to levels that are seeing the high-cost producers close down.Related: Hard times return as China bids to bring its economic miracle to an end Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the deadlock over Greece’s bailout programme, as European leaders gather in Brussels for a summit meeting

Will Hutton’s brave and visionary ideas for reforming British capitalism should be condensed into a terse popular narrative and incorporated into a widely disseminated pre-election “manifesto” (British capitalism is broken. Here’s how to fix it, 11 February). As he says: “The current national conversation is hardly conducive to these ideas”. What about crowd-funded one-page presentations in the national press and social media? It would surely be signed by a long list of respected national figures – not only economists.The distorted imperative of deficit reduction has imposed a straitjacket of negativity around the national conversation Continue reading...

Alexis Tsipra’s Syriza government continues to aspire to a lesser debt burden and a ditching of policies forced on Athens for the bailoutIt’s easy to see why Angela Merkel and François Hollande were so keen to get an agreement with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. The eurozone is not really in good enough shape to cope with the aftershocks of one crisis let alone two.So, Germany and France wanted at least a temporary respite from the problems on Europe’s eastern borders before turning to the more pressing issue of Greece. Continue reading...

Prospect of quantitative easing or negative interest rates are remote, given the forecasts for earnings and growth

Bank of England governor says strong growth should avert threat of deflationary spiral, but public should prepare for interest rate rise earlier than expectedBritain is sliding towards its first bout of negative inflation in more than half a century, the Bank of England has said, but strong economic growth should stave off the threat of a deflationary spiral.The slump in oil prices and falling food prices is likely to push inflation to zero in the second and third quarters of 2015, probably dipping into negative territory for one or two months this spring, the Bank said in its February inflation report.Related: Will below-zero inflation lead the Bank to start tightening policy? Continue reading...

Thousands of people in Athens gather on Wednesday for a rally in support of Greece's new government as the finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, attends bailout talks in Brussels. After seven hours of negotiations, eurozone finance ministers failed to make any progress or sign a joint statement Continue reading...

Deal, under which Kiev will have to cut spending, restructure banks and fight corruption, comes as leaders meeting in Minsk agree ceasefire for east of countryThe International Monetary Fund has announced a $17.5bn (£11.5bn) loan to war-stricken Ukraine, extending the lifeline keeping the country from bankruptcy.

Inflation, which fell to 0.5% in December, expected to turn negative in coming months, as Bank prepares to cut forecasts in quarterly report

Those in work are finding their pay and conditions squeezed because employers know they can be replacedDuring the recession, John McArthur put himself forward to work for LAMH Recycle Ltd in Motherwell, a social enterprise that reconditions computers. An electronics specialist, McArthur, now 59, had previously worked on factory floors, then retrained, moved into product development, and even started his own company. But like many in Lanarkshire, he found that a rich CV counted for little when facing a slump. Frustrated by unemployment, he seized on the chance “to sit at the end of line” at LAMH, “doing the final quality check, signing things off as good to go. It was minimum-wage work,” he tells me, “but I was more than happy to do it. I had experience to share.”John was prepared for the fact that this placement, which was backed by a Labour government programme, would not last forever: it ended in 2011. Nothing, however, could prepare him for what happened next. Last summer, under a new coalition make-work scheme, he was informed that there was, once again, a post for him at LAMH. But the new “offer” came with a twist: this time John would be working without a wage. There would be no reward for 30 hours graft, only the threat of subsistence-level benefits being withdrawn if it wasn’t done.Related: Unemployment causes 45,000 suicides a year worldwide, finds studyThe creep of zero-hour working continues, and there are still twice as many unwilling part-timers as before the slump Continue reading...

First serious negotiations between country and EU finance ministers fail even to build framework for future talks

Economists say methodology that helped forecast Scottish referendum result could be used to predict general elections

Even the most stability obsessed countries have made unexpected economic moves, but barriers to growth remain largely unaddressed – and central banks cannot tackle them alone

The country is heading towards a social and economic crisis marked by desperately high levels of inequality. But it’s not too late to create a fairer society in which most people flourishWe live in a country whose banking system seven years ago was only saved by a £1tn intervention, and that remains crippled by the legacy of private debt and stunning losses. Months ago, the secession of Scotland, which threatened to break up the foundations of the state, was narrowly avoided; it remains an ongoing threat. Our share of world markets continues to shrink, and our trade deficit has climbed to unthinkable levels. Wages have fallen, in real terms, by the greatest degree in more than a century. Inequality of income and wealth have risen to desperately high levels that may soon metastasise into a serious economic and social cancer.Yet what is most extraordinary about the present moment is that all this now seems unexceptional; our political and economic order is so thoroughly broken that many no longer find that fact worthy of notice.Smart societies are impossible to create without fairness, justice and enfranchisementAt best, companies are organisations of genius, solving problems, innovating and delivering great goods and servicesThe task is to move the financial system away from its fixation with property lending and onto supporting innovation Continue reading...

Greek prime minister singles out German chancellor Angela Merkel and her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble for criticism as he vows to get to workAfter three days of heated debate, Greece’s new government received a vote of confidence late on Tuesday as the country steeled itself for crucial negotiations with the creditors keeping it afloat.Alexis Tsipras, the firebrand catapulted to power on the back of fierce opposition to the austerity endured by the nation in recent years, easily won the motion with 162 votes. Some 137 MPs rejected the call. Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the leader of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn abstained citing illness. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the Greek debt crisis, as markets welcome signs that Athens will compromise at Wednesday night’s eurogroup meeting, after tonight’s confidence vote