Oh dear. Can life get EVEN more depressing for the country’s down at heel savers? The answer, I fear, is a big horrible YES.
Just a week after Treasury-backed National Savings & Investments killed off new sales of its attractive tax-free savings certificates, the august Item Club – a well respected independent economic forecasting group – rubbed yet more salt into the wounds of savers.
Not by withdrawing savings products (Item Club, after all, is a cerebral financial forecaster rather than a supplier of financial products) but by painting a ‘dire’ view (‘dire’ in the eyes of savers) of where interest rates are going in the next four years.
According to Item, UK interest rates could remain at 0.5% until 2014 – provided George Osborne is able to push through his swinging spending cuts. ‘