Emeritus Professor Joe Nellis is Head of Economic Research at MHA, the accountancy and advisory firm.   Inflation in the Eurozone has edged higher again, rising from 2.9% in July to 3.3% in August. This is a cause for concern – reinforcing worries that price pressures are proving more stubborn than policymakers would like and raising concerns that interest rates may have to rise again in the near future.  But does the European Central Bank have to act now? Having already raised interest rates in June, rising inflation adds weight to the case for another hike in September. On the one hand, this is due to short-term economic shocks. Energy prices have significantly increased in the last six months as a result of the Middle East crisis, and clearly a resolution to the ongoing conflict would bring welcome relief for the European economy. If this is just a temporary spike in prices, more restrictive monetary policy is not necessary and could derail an already teetering European economy.   However, the ECB cannot afford to let transitory inflation become embedded, and therefore structural. If inflation expectations stay high, higher costs will begin feeding through into wages and services inflation, creating the conditions for long-term inflation troubles. As inflation surged across 2021 and 2022, the ECB took the position that this was a ‘transitory’ phenomenon, holding rates low and allowing inflation to become embedded. If needed, policymakers will be ready to raise rates to prevent this happening again.   The ECB faces a dilemma: a trade-off between higher interest rates and economic cost. Higher borrowing costs will continue to squeeze heavily indebted households, weaken housing markets and make investment more expensive for businesses. For SMEs in particular, another increase in financing costs could mean investment plans being indefinitely postponed or abandoned altogether.   Governments across the Eurozone also face an uncomfortable trade-off. Higher interest rates increase the cost of servicing public debt, potentially reducing the fiscal room available for tax cuts, infrastructure investment and other spending priorities. Attempts to compensate households through broad fiscal support could, meanwhile, add further demand to the economy and complicate the ECB’s task of bringing inflation to a halt.   The wider concern, therefore, is not simply that inflation has passed 3%. It is that the Eurozone — and more broadly, Europe — could enter the last quarter of the year stuck between sticky inflation and increasingly restrictive monetary policy. The ECB’s top priority remains price stability, but the economic cost of achieving this may become an expensive burden that the Eurozone economy can ill-afford.

In this article, I share how to build a stronger sales culture for sustainable growth.

By Andrew Hookway, Founder and MD of Extech Cloud.  Many organisations in West Sussex and Surrey rely heavily on Microsoft 365 to manage emails, documents, collaboration and day-to-day operations. It has become the backbone of modern business, yet despite its widespread adoption, many companies are unaware of one of the most valuable security indicators available within the platform, which is Microsoft Secure Score.

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Discover three practical ways to prevent post-demo silence and keep promising sales conversations moving.

Most small business owners have been told at some point this year that they are behind on AI. It is a lazy accusation and the data does not support it. What is true is that the risk has changed shape. Adopting AI carries risk. Avoiding it carries a different one. Our latest article sets out both, and how to choose between them with the discipline you already apply everywhere else in the business.

What turns an ordinary customer interaction into lasting trust and loyalty? Read this article to discover what customer service excellence looks like.

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September Digital Accelerator: Build Skills That Get You Noticed

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Ask most small business owners what their marketing needs and the answer comes back fast: more leads. But in our latest blog, Audience Profiling: Why Knowing Who Not to Sell to Makes You More Money , we argue that the lead count is rarely the fault. The fault is fit - and it usually sits three layers further down than anyone is looking. The answer that sounds generous but costs you money...

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The biggest customer service improvements often come from changing one simple habit.

Eight months on from a significant revision to BS 5266-1, the British Standard governing emergency lighting, a lot of Surrey and West Sussex businesses still haven't caught up with what changed - and many don't yet realise there's a gap at all. The new edition came into effect on 31 October 2025, replacing the version that had been in place since 2016. For commercial duty holders, there's one specific change that's catching businesses out, and it's worth getting ahead of before a fire risk assessment, insurance renewal or fire authority inspection flags it for you.

Small improvements from customer feedback can lead to significant business growth.

This month's Resilience Monthly completes the 4A journey with Adapt — the pillar that ties Anchor, Align and Activate together. Resilience that can't flex when reality doesn't match the plan will eventually break. Here's what genuine organisational adaptability looks like in practice.

The best teams aren't built through pressure. They're built through trust.

By Andrew Hookway, Founder and MD of Extech Cloud.

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