The UK government today announced a crucial adjustment to its inheritance tax (IHT) policy, raising the threshold for Agricultural Property Reliefs (APR) and Business Property Reliefs (BPR) from £1 million to £2.5 million. This change, set to take effect in April 2026, is expected to significantly reduce the number of farms and business owners facing higher IHT bills, allowing spouses or civil partners to pass on up to £5 million in qualifying assets without incurring inheritance tax. The move comes after considerable backlash from the farming community and businesses following reforms announced in the Budget 2024, which initially restricted these reliefs. The government stated this measure will halve the number of estates claiming APR (including those also claiming BPR) affected by the reforms in 2026-27, from 375 to 185.
Inheritance tax remains a significant revenue stream for the UK Treasury, with receipts reaching £5.8 billion in the first eight months of the 2025/26 tax year, an £84 million increase from the same period last year. Forecasts suggest IHT could raise £9.1 billion for the full 2025/26 tax year and climb to £14.5 billion by 2030/31, driven largely by frozen thresholds and increasing asset values. The standard IHT rate is 40% on estates exceeding the £325,000 nil-rate band.
In Germany, the government has extended job security for workers at the PCK Schwedt oil refinery until end-June 2026. This decision, announced by the economy and finance ministries, provides stability for the approximately 1,200 employees at the refinery, which is vital for supplying gasoline and crude oil to eastern Germany and parts of Poland. The refinery's control was seized by Berlin from Russian oil company Rosneft (ROSN) in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though Rosneft remains the legal owner. The extension follows previous job security measures that were set to expire at the end of June 2025.
Meanwhile, Yannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of Greece and a member of the ECB's Governing Council, reiterated that the central bank must preserve optionality in its monetary policy. The ECB recently held policy rates steady for the fourth consecutive meeting, with rates on the deposit facility, main refinancing operations, and marginal lending facility remaining at 2.00%, 2.15%, and 2.40%, respectively. Stournaras indicated that while further easing is unlikely at present, expectations for rate hikes are also premature given ongoing uncertainties. The ECB remains highly data-dependent, with December's staff projections for 2028 serving as a key input for assessing whether inflation will stabilize at the 2% target in the medium term. Recent forecasts show upward revisions for GDP growth in 2026 and 2027, though inflation is still expected to remain below the 2% target through 2027, reaching it in 2028.
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications.