Competitiveness Compass
In case it has passed you by, today is the day or Der Tag when the EU will publish its Competitiveness Compass. Before you reach for your Thesaurus to work out what the latest manifestation of the EU mangling the English language has in store for all of us, this is the twofold response to Mario Draghi’s less than favourable 2024 report on how the EU has fallen behind the USA in terms of economic growth plus the barrage of newly re-minted President Trump pronouncements on where the USA is going versus the rest of the world including the EU. The report will be presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen so her audience is unlikely to be shaken let alone stirred, but the opportunity and the significance of the moment should not be under estimated not only for the EU but also for the UK. One EU official has admitted that the EU has a competitiveness/cost issue which needs to be met with a new EU doctrine of competitiveness and attractiveness.
EUR/USD 1.0425.
UK Population
The ONS is predicting that from 67.6 million in 2022, the UK’s population will reach 72.5 million driven almost entirely by net migration given that the death rate almost exactly matches the birth rate. So while the noise is about the UK’s stretched public services, the fact remains that there is almost exactly net migration every year of 900,000 despite the UK government’s pledge to curb it.
GBP/USD 1.2427.