The Governor of the Bank of England failed to persuade the Monetary Policy Committee to inject further stimulus into the economy, the minutes of the MPC's meeting this month have shown.

George Osborne embarked on a mini world tour at the outset of his Budget speech. He took us via the United States, Japan, the eurozone and even tiny Cyprus before finally getting to the UK. The message was clear: this world economy is in turmoil and that is why Britain is in such a poor state.

Office for Budget Responsibility puts deficit at £1bn more than it expected in December

The Chancellor wants to play it safe. But he is also running out of time to boost growth ahead of the election. Ben Chu looks at his likely plans

The eurozone was still embroiled in an acrimonious dispute tonight over whose idea it was to impose a tax on the savings of ordinary depositors in Cypriot banks – a decision that has instigated a financial panic on the Mediterranean island and reactivated the wider eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

The German government insisted yesterday it had not demanded that Cyprus hit ordinary depositors as the price of its eurozone bank rescue, pointing the finger of blame instead at the government in Nicosia and the institutions of the eurozone.

The world's most powerful central bankers are preparing to impose themselves on the financial sector interest rate reporting framework in response to the Libor scandal.

Gates blames capitalism for channelling more money into curing minor ailments

Outlook British business is badly served by its lobby groups. I often find it hard to distinguish between the press releases from the likes of the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce and those issued by the Her Majesty's Treasury. That's why it was a breath of fresh air this week to hear Simon Walker of the Institute of Directors breaking this depressing mould with a righteous attack on Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland for giving capitalism a bad name with their "rewards for failure". It is no use "polishing a turd" by spinning such behaviour as justified, said Mr Walker. To restore public faith in the banking industry the behaviour itself has to change.