European nations have splashed out nearly €800bn on energy support measures as the continent continues to reel from Putin’s gas cuts.
Germany is by far the biggest spender, forking out nearly €270bn since September 2021. EU nations have spent €681bn in total, while Britain has allocated €103bn, according to think tank Bruegel.
But the think tank warned that most of the support so far had been non-targeted and urged governments to change their approach.
Giovanni Sgaravatti at Bruegel said: “Instead of price-suppressing measures that are de facto fossil fuels subsidies, governments should now foster more income-support policies targeted towards the lowest two quintiles of the income distribution and towards strategic sectors of the economy.”
5 things to start your day
1) America is overtaking us on green fuel, warns British Airways chief – Luis Gallego says goal to decarbonise aviation is ‘at risk’ unless more is done to boost industry
2) Buy-to-let bust sees 66 rental homes disappear each day – Soaring mortgage rates and tax rises push landlords out of the property market
3) AI song generators threaten ‘lasting harm’ to artists, warns Universal – World’s biggest record label warns against relaxing copyright laws to fuel AI creation
4) How Britain’s broken housing market is crushing growth – A dysfunctional property market is excacerbating Britain’s productivity crisis
5) A million more people facing paying tax on savings under Hunt’s stealth raid – Nest eggs under threat thanks to interest rate rises and frozen tax thresholds
What happened overnight
Asian shares slid and the dollar rose on Monday as investors hunkered down for US inflation data that could jolt the outlook for interest rates globally, while accelerating or reversing the recent spike in bond yields.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7pc, after losing 2.2pc last week.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1pc and South Korea 0.7pc. Meanwhile, Chinese blue chips inched up 0.6pc aided by strong data on bank lending.
Hong Kong stocks tumbled at the start of trade, with the Hang Seng Index sinking 1.32pc.
The Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.11pc, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange dipped 0.05pc.
