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Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on UK inflation figures holding steady at 2 percent · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks B Follow
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  Speaker 2: To catch up with UK correspondent Gavin Gray, who joins
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  Speaker 2: us outside Westminster this evening.
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  Speaker 3: Kyodo, Hi there, Jack, Yes I did, and indeed a
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  Speaker 3: very busy day ahead as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of laws on the statutes there, very
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  Speaker 2: exciting day. We'll get to that in a couple of minutes,
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  Speaker 2: and some of the big changes that Kia Starma's government
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  Speaker 2: are trying to push through. But as New Zealand gets
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  Speaker 2: its latest inflation data, the UK's inflation rate is making
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  Speaker 2: us all feel just a little bit envious. So the
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  Speaker 2: inflation rate in the UK right now unchanged at two percent,
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  Speaker 2: which of course is dead on target. So what is
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  Speaker 2: this going to mean for interest rates?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, very big question. Lots of pressure I think now
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  Speaker 3: on the Bank of England to bring those interest rates
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  Speaker 3: down there at a sixteen year high of five and
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  Speaker 3: a quarter percent. They were used pretty much as a
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  Speaker 3: tool keeping interest rates, raising interest rates to control inflation.
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  Speaker 3: The inflation, which had been double digit back down to
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  Speaker 3: two percent. Staying at two percent. However, I think actually
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  Speaker 3: analysts were slightly disappointed. They thought it was going to
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  Speaker 3: drop a little further, particularly in one or two of
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  Speaker 3: the service sectors and other measurements of inflation. So I
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  Speaker 3: think they're slightly disappointed about that. Apparently what kept inflation
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  Speaker 3: at the two percent was, although most things are dropped,
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  Speaker 3: believe it or not, hotel stay had increased in prisis,
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  Speaker 3: so anyone coming to visit might need to bear that
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  Speaker 3: in mind. Tomorrow we get the employment figures and then
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  Speaker 3: at the first of August that decision from the Bank
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  Speaker 3: of England where many people with mortgages will be hoping
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  Speaker 3: those rates are coming.
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  Speaker 2: Down, so so to talk us through that again, so
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  Speaker 2: the Bank of England's going to be making your decision
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  Speaker 2: thee And to be totally clear, here in New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: we get quarterly inflation data, so we only get an
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  Speaker 2: update every three months. In the UK, Just how regularly
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  Speaker 2: do you get your inflation data? Do you get your
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  Speaker 2: inflation data every month?
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  Speaker 3: Given yes, that's right, always roughly at the same sort
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  Speaker 3: of time in the month, and the inflation with the
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  Speaker 3: employment figures they're now trying to bring out on the
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  Speaker 3: first of every month, and it's the Bank of England
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  Speaker 3: setting those interest rates that most people look forward to,
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  Speaker 3: and as I said, they're coming out at the first of.
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  Speaker 2: Organ and so Gavin, how do people generally structure their
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  Speaker 2: mortgages in the UK? Here in New Zealand? I think
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  Speaker 2: most people look to structure their mortgages over fixed term periods,
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  Speaker 2: which means that even once the Central Bank decides to
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  Speaker 2: cut or increase rate, there is a bit of a
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  Speaker 2: lag until people switch from whatever fixed term they are
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  Speaker 2: on now and to the fixed term under a new
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  Speaker 2: interest rate. Certainly that is the case for the majority
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  Speaker 2: of people's family homes, for example, How do people in
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  Speaker 2: the UK generally structure their home lines?
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  Speaker 3: There are so many different offers now, Jack is quite extraordinary.
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  Speaker 3: When I got my first mortgage, it was very strictly
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  Speaker 3: limited really to just about a dozen different things you
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  Speaker 3: could go for. There are a lot now. I think
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  Speaker 3: what's become very popular are yes, those fixed knowing what
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  Speaker 3: you're going to be paying, but at the moment, of course,
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  Speaker 3: because interest rates are high, you're going to be paying
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  Speaker 3: a lot of money. So a lot of people coming
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  Speaker 3: off the fixed going to the variable and also early
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  Speaker 3: payback without penalty.
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  Speaker 2: That's very popular, right, Yeah, So you talked to us
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  Speaker 2: about some of the laws that this new government of
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  Speaker 2: Kia Stamers is prioritizing and looking to pass thirty five
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  Speaker 2: new laws proposed, including a crackdown on shoplifting.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's right. So the king Speech is due to
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  Speaker 3: take place in a couple of hours unveiling some thirty
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  Speaker 3: five pieces of legislation and shoplifting is due to be
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  Speaker 3: up there. And basically the previous government in twenty fourteen
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  Speaker 3: past the law that meant low value thefts worth under
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  Speaker 3: four hundred Australian dollars were subject to much less serious punishment. Indeed,
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  Speaker 3: the police really weren't that interested unless it was a
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  Speaker 3: larger theft that this government looking to overhaul that completely
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  Speaker 3: change that with a new crime Bill and also to
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  Speaker 3: make life much easier for the police to investigate and
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  Speaker 3: work with retailers to sort these offenses out. It's going
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  Speaker 3: to prove very popular. Do you know shoplifting cost retailers
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  Speaker 3: three point eight billion New Zealand dollars in the last
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  Speaker 3: year and of course who's paying for that? Well, the
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  Speaker 3: answer is all the other responsible and paying public who
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  Speaker 3: buy from that particular shop.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And Gavin sniffer dogs in Ecuador have
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  Speaker 2: found more than six tons of cocaine hidden in a
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  Speaker 2: banana shipment distant for Germany.
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  Speaker 3: Can you believe it? Five thousand, six hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 3: parcels jack filled with a white substance later tested positive
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  Speaker 3: for cocaine. The shipment was destined, as you say, for Germany.
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  Speaker 3: We're not quite short which port, but this is a
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  Speaker 3: massive boost to those trying to crack down but also
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  Speaker 3: I think an indication on the sheer scale of the trade.
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  Speaker 3: Had the six and a quarter tons of cocaine ridged destination,
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  Speaker 3: it would have been worth bordering on getting up to
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  Speaker 3: half a billion New Zealand dollars. Quite extraordinary. Five people
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  Speaker 3: arrested following the discovery, and it was in a deep
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  Speaker 3: water southwest of the Ecuador's largest city, a deep water port,
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  Speaker 3: that these parcels were found hidden beneath these crates of
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  Speaker 3: bananas that were destined for legitimate exports. So quite a
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  Speaker 3: major achievement there, and plenty of people now looking at
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  Speaker 3: Ecuador from Europe as a place to perhaps concentrate those
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  Speaker 3: police investigative results.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's very interesting. Thank you so much, Gavin,
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  Speaker 2: really appreciate it. That is UK correspondent Gavin grat.
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