George Osborne has been urged to put his austerity programme on hold by the International Monetary Fund in order to support the anaemic economy.

... the US Federal Reserve will soon slow down its $85bn-a-month, third round of quantitative easing. �In the current economic environment, monetary policy is providing significant benefits,� Mr Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

George Osborne yesterday revealed that the Government will set out its strategy �to return RBS and Lloyds to the private sector� after the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards' final report is published next month.

Furious consumer groups demanded an immediate cut in energy bills today after one of Britain's biggest suppliers revealed a 28 per cent profit surge boosted by the past year's cold weather.

Canadian retail sales stalled in March after gains in the prior two months, as increases in auto and clothing receipts were offset by lower gasoline prices.

Nationwide has revealed plans to raise up to �500m of extra capital, prompting speculation that it may go shopping for acquisitions.

Google's boss has told UK politicians to "sort out" the tax system, after criticisms of the internet search giant by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

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 ...

Ed Davey, the UK energy secretary, has warned that Scotland could lose billions of pounds in subsidies for renewable energy projects if it voted for independence, putting its green energy revolution at risk.

THE SCOTTISH Government today gave the green light for the world's largest wave power scheme to be developed in the stormy seas off the coast off Lewis.