Here are the local and national business stories making the headlines this morning.
Demand for oil to hit an all-time high, says energy agency
Global oil demand will hit a record high this year, driven by the lifting of Covid restrictions in China and threatening a supply shortage, the International Energy Agency has predicted.
The world is expected to consume an average of 101.7 million barrels of oil per day in 2023, up from 99.9 million barrels per day last year, with almost half the growth coming from China.
The Times reports that the agency has increased its forecasts since its last monthly report and now sees demand surging over the course of the year, from an average of 99.6 million barrels per day this quarter to 103.5 million barrels in the fourth quarter.
The agency said that China and Russia were two “wild cards” that dominated the outlook for the year, with China poised to shape demand and the impact of sanctions on Russia expected to dent global supply growth.
Worker dies at Aberdeen hospital construction site
A worker has died at a hospital construction site in Aberdeen.
Emergency services were called to the Foresterhill Health Campus shortly after 09:35, but the 52-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been made aware and is investigating the matter with Police Scotland.
Construction firm Graham confirmed to the BBC that work had been halted and the incident had involved a sub-contractor.
Vacuum inventor says Sunak's economic policy sucks
The “short-sighted” and “stupid” economic approach of Rishi Sunak’s Government is keeping Britain in a state of “Covid inertia”, one of Britain’s leading businessmen has warned.
Writing in The Telegraph, Sir James Dyson, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the Dyson technology empire, warns that “growth has become a dirty word” during Mr Sunak’s time in Downing Street.
Sir James singles out for criticism the burden of regulations and increasing tax on companies, arguing that the Conservatives seem to think “penalising the private sector is a free win at the ballot box”.
He also suggests that the Government’s failure to get workers back to the office after Covid has “badly damaged the country’s self-belief and work ethic”.
Mark Carney praises UK economy at Davos as global outlook brightens
Mark Carney has praised the British economy amid cautious signs of optimism over the global outlook.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the former governor of the Bank of England heaped praise on Britain’s institutional strengths that had allowed the economy to withstand a series of shocks after the financial crisis.
The Times says falling energy costs in recent weeks have led to a better outlook for the global economy. The inflation rate in the UK appears to have peaked, too.
At Davos, the International Monetary Fund signalled that it would upgrade its forecasts for the global economy. Instead of predicting a “tougher” 2023, Gita Gopinath, deputy managing director of the fund, now expects an “improvement” in the second half of the year and into 2024.
Invest in technology that removes CO2 - report
Technology to remove the planet-warming greenhouse gas CO2 from our atmosphere must be urgently ramped up, leading climate experts say in a new report.
Scientists say big cuts in CO2 emissions won't be enough to limit global warming. And nature alone will not remove enough of it from the air.
CO2 is the most important gas warming the planet, and is emitted when fossil fuels such as gas and oil are burnt.
"To limit warming to 2C or lower, we need to accelerate emissions reductions. But the findings of this report are clear: we also need to increase carbon removal too," lead author Dr Steve Smith from Oxford University told the BBC.
"Many new methods are emerging with potential."
House prices in Scotland have lowest growth in UK
Annual house price growth in Scotland is the lowest among the four nations of the UK, the latest figures have revealed.
The price of buying a home in Scotland increased by 5.5% in the year to November 2022, comfortably lower than the 10.3% average rise across the UK.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the last time annual growth was lower was the year up to September 2020 when prices increased by 3.7%.
Pound rises as inflation fears cool and US figures disappoint
The pound surged close to a seven-month high against the dollar after a fall in UK inflation and weak economic data for America prompted speculation that central banks are near the end of their spate of interest rate rises.
The Times reports that the pound rose for a second consecutive day, touching $1.243 at its highest yesterday before settling at $1.236, which represents a 0.6 per cent daily gain. Sterling has lost nearly 10 per cent of its value against the dollar over the past year.
The currency recovered at the end of last year after falling to a record low of $1.03 in September after the Liz Truss government’s mini-budget, which included about £45 billion in unfunded tax cuts, prompted a sell-off of UK assets.
The pound, which has struggled to keep up as investors bought into the Federal Reserve’s series of aggressive rate rises, has benefited from weaker-than-expected figures for US retail sales, industrial production and producer prices over the past week.