Gov must not be pressured by growth figures to endanger lives: Positive Money response to GDP figures
9 April, 2020Responding to figures published today by the ONS which showed GDP grew by just 0.1% in the three months to February, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money said: “There is a risk that as growth figures get worse the government will be pressured to relax Coronavirus prevention measures to get the economy going again, [...]
Covid-19 crisis: An open letter to the UK government calling for faster and more far-reaching action
23 March, 2020Below is an open letter to the UK government signed by 98 economists, academics and directors of research organisations, including Positive Money. An edited version first appeared in The Times on Monday 23 March 2020. A welcome change but more is needed We welcome the government’s new measures to support workers, particularly the introduction of grants [...]
Coronavirus QE must also be green: Andrew Bailey needs to stick to his word
20 March, 2020Amid the coronavirus crisis, we risk backsliding on the progress we’ve made towards decarbonising our financial system. We must make sure the new Bank of England governor keeps his promise to support the green transition. In recent weeks Positive Money has won a series of big victories in the battle to stop our financial system [...]
PRESS RELEASE: Positive Money response to Bank of England QE announcement
19 March, 2020Responding to the Bank of England’s announcement today that it will buy an additional £200bn worth of government and corporate bonds through quantitative easing (QE), bringing total to £645bn, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, said: “Rather than buying corporate and government bonds from financial markets, a better alternative would be money created by [...]
PRESS RELEASE: Positive Money responds to Bank of England COVID-19 emergency response
18 March, 2020Positive Money has questioned the Bank of England’s plans to pump money into the economy through the new Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), and called for newly created money to instead go to people directly. Responding to reports that the BoE governor Andrew Bailey has pledged to create potentially unlimited amounts of new money through [...]
PRESS RELEASE: Bank of England recognises opportunities for digital cash
12 March, 2020London, 12 March 2020 - The Bank of England has today published a discussion paper which recognises the benefits of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) - a proposal for a digital version of cash pioneered by research and campaign group Positive Money. Britain’s central bank recognised a number of opportunities offered by a CBDC. [...]
Press release: Bank of England considering ‘game-changing’ brown-penalising factor for fossil fuel lending
10 March, 2020In a letter published today, outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney has told the Treasury Select Committee that the central bank is “examining the case for a brown-penalising factor that introduces additional capital charges on polluting and potentially risky activities”, as called for by research and campaign groups including Positive Money. The news comes [...]
Positive Money leads call for new Bank of England governor to step up climate action
4 March, 2020More than 100 leading experts and civil society figures have signed a letter co-ordinated by Positive Money calling for the incoming Bank of England governor to accelerate efforts to decarbonise our financial system. With everything else going on, from post-Brexit bargaining to the threat of a coronavirus-fuelled financial meltdown, there was a risk that the [...]
Treasury urged not to backslide on climate promise in Budget
24 February, 2020London, 24 February 2020 - Research and campaign group Positive Money has called on the Chancellor to add climate responsibilities to the Bank of England’s mandate in the March Budget, after the Treasury today admitted failure to act on its commitment to do so in November. In its Green Finance Strategy, published in July 2019, [...]