Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Oil price could hit $150 as Middle East conflict escalates
Oil could climb as high as $150 per barrel as the conflict in the Middle East becomes an “escalatory doom loop” that is likely to inflict more losses on financial markets.
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, could hit $130 a barrel, Saxo Bank has warned, with one-month futures potentially touching a record of $150 as the war enters its fourth week.
“This is an escalatory doom loop — or ‘escalation trap’ — with currently no realistic off-ramp,” Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Bank, said. “Neither side has an incentive to back down as the costs of doing so are increasing day by day. Each side thinks pushing harder will force the other to back down.”
Call to cancel threat of prison for council tax non-payment
Some local authorities refer to the threat of prison in their first letter to people who have missed a council tax payment, a debt charity has said.
Ahead of council tax rises for millions of people this April, StepChange has called for an end to imprisonment and "unsympathetic or oversimplified messaging" over non-payment.
Only four people have gone to prison for failing to pay council tax since 2020, it said, so highlighting the sanction was counterproductive when writing to those who had not been able to pay.
Be honest with voters about cuts to come, parties urged
Holyrood faces the gravest financial crisis since devolution and politicians must come clean with voters about where the axe will fall, a leading economist has said.
Sir Anton Muscatelli, president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), said he feared Scotland’s politicians would not be honest with the public about “difficult trade-offs” which would be needed after the Holyrood elections in May.
Several independent experts have warned of a looming £5billion black hole in devolved spending by the end of the decade, and that current spending levels are likely to be unsustainable.
Singapore agrees to buy UK’s Access Self Storage for £1bn
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to buy a British chain of self-storage facilities for more than £1billion.
Capita Land, the property investment arm of Temasek, has struck a deal to acquire Access Self Storage, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
The sale price is understood to be “just over” £1billion. However, the formal paperwork has yet to be signed and bankers are nervous that the deal could fall through given the uncertainty caused by the war in Iran and its impact on borrowing costs.