The International Monetary Fund has toned down its explicit criticism of the UK's austerity strategy but urged the government to accelerate its spending on infrastructure this year to offset the drag on the 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.

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.

The Canadian dollar declined to a two-month low against its U.S. peer after retail sales stagnated in March, boosting bets the Bank of Canada will move away from its bias to raise interest rates.

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.

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

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 ...

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.

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.