Public sector finances, UK: December 2025

Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!DONALD J. TRUMPPRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In trend terms, in December 2025: • unemployment rate decreased to 4.2%. • participation rate remained at 66.8%. • employment increased to 14,686,100. • employment to population ratio remained at 64.0%. • underemployment rate remained at 5.9%. • monthly hours worked increased to 1,997 million. In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2025: • unemployment ...

Ms Schnabel started her presentation by noting that, since the Governing Council’s previous monetary policy meeting on 29-30 October 2025, the financial market narrative that ECB interest rates were in a good place had been further consolidated. Incoming data had reinforced expectations that inflation would remain close to the 2% target over the medium term and that the euro area economy would grow at a rate near potential. On the back of the resilient economy and stickier services inflation, expectations of further rate cuts had vanished, with both markets and survey participants expecting policy rates to remain at their current levels for an extended period. Better than expected macroeconomic data and the reappraisal of monetary policy expectations had also pushed longer-term risk-free rates higher, a development driven by real rates, while the euro exchange rate had remained within a narrow range. Strong global risk sentiment had kept equity markets at high levels, while sovereign and corporate bond spreads had remained compressed and volatility in euro area money markets had remained limited. Overall, euro area financial conditions had tightened slightly since October 2025 but had fluctuated in a narrow range since the ECB’s last rate cut in June 2025, remaining closely aligned with its key policy rates. ECB ACCOUNTS: THE VIEW WAS EXPRESSED THAT MAINTAINING INTEREST RATES AT THEIR CURRENT LEVEL REPRESENTED A FAIRLY SOLID PATH UNDER THE BASELINE OUTLOOK ECB ACCOUNTS: THE DECEMBER STAFF PROJECTIONS HAD STRENGTHENED CONFIDENCE IN THE MEDIUM-TERM OUTLOOK - EURO AREA ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WAS PROVING MORE RESILIENT THAN PREVIOUSLY ANTICIPATED - THE INFLATION OUTLOOK CONTINUED TO BE IN A GOOD PLACE ECB ACCOUNTS: MOST MEMBERS VIEWED THE RISKS SURROUNDING THE INFLATION OUTLOOK AS TWO-SIDED, WITH SOME MEMBERS JUDGING THAT THE DISTRIBUTION OF RISKS HAD SHIFTED UP