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 ...

WASHINGTON�Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could begin winding down its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program at one of its "next few meetings" if the economy continues to improve, but cautioned he was reluctant to ...

The Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, has told political leaders to sort out a rational and predictable international tax system, as he faced a wave of criticism over the firm's failure to pay more tax.

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 ...

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.

As unsettled weather and rising food prices put off shoppers, retail sales volumes including fuel sank 1.3pc month-on-month, confounding economists' forecasts for flat sales.

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 ...

Stansted should replace Heathrow as the UK's hub by transforming the Essex airport into a four-runway operation with improved rail links at a cost of �23bn, according to proponents of the scheme.

The soaring price of property in London's West End has boosted results from real estate groups Great Portland Estates and Shaftesbury, which both own prime buildings across the UK capital.