The Elizabeth line will finally open on 24 May, three and a half years later than originally planned. Back in 2018, when it was due to open, the overriding concern was that rail infrastructure was not keeping up with commuter demand into central London and was choking the capital’s economic growth. But in a post-Covid, hybrid

Download the full report here Cebr was commissioned by Yorkshire Building Society to examine the current financial resilience of households across the UK. With the economy still recovering from damage sustained during the pandemic, and the tax burden increasing for many households, ongoing rises in inflation could not have come at a worse time. Average

In February 2021 the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Report predicted an inflation peak of 2.1%. In May 2021 the forecast peak was raised to 2.3%. In August 2021, acknowledging that inflation was already 2.5% and above the previously forecast peak, the new forecast peak was raised to 4.0%. In November 2021, noting that inflation

Data aggregated and anonymized from over 593 million B2B transactions worth $4.6 trillion, from 20.7 million buying companies worldwide Global payment trends over the last three years revealed: US companies tenth in the world for lengthy payment delays UK and Ireland among top five worst in Europe for payment delays Economists at Cebr say increasing

Just as the last of the Covid-related travel restrictions have eased both in the UK and in popular holiday destinations, a new problem has emerged for hopeful travellers – passport processing delays. In 2020 and 2021, more than five million people delayed applying for a renewal as they were not planning international travel in the

Download the full report here Cebr was commissioned by ACI Worldwide to conduct research into the economic impact of real-time payments, across a sample of thirty major global economies. Real-time payments have the potential to revolutionise the way that funds are circulated across the economy by delivering payments near instantaneously, subsequently promoting economic growth, efficiency,

It might seem that house price inflation is endemic to the UK. But a look at the recent data casts some doubt on the proposition. Even for the UK as a whole, where moves out of London during lockdown and accommodative monetary policy have boosted house prices in the country, house prices have risen by

Poor Sadiq Khan. His Mayoralty has coincided with both the pandemic and Brexit, both of which have hit London by more than the rest of the country. And yet there is a sense that he may have used these problems to disguise some of his own making, notably the negative economic impact of Low Traffic

Cebr Chief Energy Adviser Mike McWilliams is a leading energy expert and he has a model of the factors that drive the energy economy which we use. After a week when energy traders have been warning of oil at $200 a barrel (though they are hardly independent commentators!) we have run various scenarios on the

Download the full report here Cebr has been commissioned by Aegon to conduct a review into financial wellbeing in the UK workforce. This report updates previous research by Cebr and Aegon on financial wellbeing and the implications for workplace productivity. Cebr’s initial report on financial wellbeing and productivity in 2018 sought to systematically analyse financial

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been given what might have appeared to be the hottest of hot potatoes – he has to start the repairing of public finances after the damage done by the pandemic while handling the hit to household incomes, especially those of the poorest households, caused by the reaction to the Russian

Only three weeks ago the 2022 Spring Statement was set to be, as envisioned, a ‘mini’ fiscal event allowing the Chancellor an opportunity to provide an update on the state of the economy and announce any minor policy adjustments, without making significant tax or spending changes usually reserved for the Budget. However, the world is

Introduction One issue affecting the effectiveness of sanctions and the corresponding response in the currency and other markets is how they affect Russian living standards. This short note models one scenario to get a sense of how quickly the combination of sanctions, rising commodity prices and the fall in the ruble will affect Russian living

Read the full report Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is likely to have a large effect on the UK economy. The scale of this effect is likely to be in the mind of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak when he releases his Spring Forecast Statement on 23 March 2022. We have run our estimated impact

The geopolitical impact of Russia’s unprovoked act of war against Ukraine is hard to overstate and the international response has reflected that. European countries have rushed to re-evaluate their energy and security situation with respect to Russia. And the wider international community has agreed on a sanctions package that is unique in its breadth and