Behind closed doors at the fund's Washington headquarters, Mr Osborne challenged Olivier Blanchard, IMF chief economist, about the Frenchman's comments that Britain was �playing with fire� over its austerity drive, setting up a battle over the impending IMF ...

Mr Bernanke told US congressmen that the American economy was in better health than a year ago, but warned that a sudden end to the fiscal stimulus package would jeopardise that recovery.

Nationwide has increased its share of the British mortgage market to a record level, helped by government-funded programmes to support housebuyers, such as the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme.

Damp squib or analytical pragmatism? That was the verdict being weighed up by observers on Wednesday, as Britain's two part-nationalised banks - Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group - told the market they would not need to raise fresh ...

Wm Morrison was under pressure on word that a large, unidentified, investor had offloaded a �288m stake in the supermarket group, less than a week after the company agreed its controversial tie-up with online grocer Ocado to kick-start its internet ...

The amount of food bought by Britons has dropped to its lowest in nearly ten years as shoppers shun the high street amid cold weather and the uncertain economy, according to official figures.

Britvic is to cut up to 400 jobs - 15 per cent of its workforce - as part of efforts to bolster its fortunes as a standalone company should competition authorities squash its proposed tie-up with Scottish peer AG Barr.

Investments in shale gas drilling could yield an industry worth nearly �4bn a year to the UK economy and create more than 70,000 jobs, according to a new report from the Institute of Directors (IoD), becoming a "new North Sea" energy business in the process ...

The world's rich have hidden at least US$18.5 trillion in tax havens around the globe, causing the loss of more than US$156 billion in tax revenue, according to Oxfam.

A �5bn hole in the public purse has been caused by the failure of HM Revenue and Customs to clamp down effectively on fraud and error, MPs warn on Wednesday.