Bloomberg U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is facing a potential shortfall in the nation’s finances ahead of his annual budget as plans to sell Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc shares stall. Whipsawing markets and a split within the government ahead of Britain’s June 23 referendum on European Union membership mean the chancellor probably won’t meet next fiscal ...

The rate on its marginal lending facility, by which the ECB offers overnight credit to banks, is going down to 0.25 percent from 0.30 percent. The ECB also announced it would expand the volume of bonds it purchases each month under its programme of quantitative easing to 80 billion euros ($88 billion) from 60 billion euros. And it would also ...

Bloomberg With just over 100 days to go until Britain’s referendum on leaving the EU, Queen Elizabeth II and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have both been dragged into the debate, showing that personalities will play a crucial role in the outcome. Supporters of a so-called Brexit called for Carney to resign after he identified a vote to leave ...

Bloomberg Croatia plans to narrow 2016 budget deficit using increased government revenue fueled by economic expansion and by cutting technical expenditures and benefits, according to the budget proposal submitted by the cabinet. The budget deficit is forecast to narrow to “within” 3 percent of gross domestic product this year, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric told the cabinet in Zagreb on Thursday, ...

Bloomberg President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced steps to limit methane emissions from existing oil and natural gas wells, a move intended to underscore their commitment to combat climate change. Canada and the U.S. are agreeing to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by as much as 45 percent below 2012 amounts by 2025, according ...

Bloomberg Mexican state-owned oil producer Petroleos Mexicanos has fully revoked a truck-leasing contract that was 63 percent more expensive than a prior agreement, according to a company document. The deal, assigned on Dec. 23 to companies including Integra Arrenda SA, included the leasing of 2,252 6-cylinder 2015-model pickups for an average of 534 pesos a day per vehicle. That compared ...

Bloomberg Every major economy in South America is missing its inflation target. Inflation is near a 12-year high in Brazil, at a seven-year high in Colombia, near a four-year high in Peru and has exceeded the target for much of the past two years in Chile. Argentina, which is starting to restore inflation targeting, has price growth of about 30 ...

bloomberg Brazil’s central bank said domestic and global uncertainties require further monitoring but could improve conditions for the convergence of inflation toward the target in 2017. Policy makers, led by their President Alexandre Tombini, kept the key rate unchanged at 14.25 percent last week for the fifth straight meeting, matching the median forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Two of ...

Bloomberg John Gutfreund, who was proclaimed the “King of Wall Street” in 1985 for harnessing the egos and fiefdoms of Salomon Brothers into one of the most profitable investment-banking firms, only to be deposed after a 1991 trading scandal, has died. He was 86. He died on Wednesday at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York after suffering ...

Beijing / AFP China’s consumer inflation jumped to 2.3 percent in February, its highest in nearly two years, official data showed on Thursday, in a positive sign for demand in the world’s second-largest economy. Food prices surged during the annual Lunar New Year holiday, with vegetable prices jumping 30.6 percent year-on. The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) released ...