Govt borrowing to fall below £178bn forecast
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Full-year Government borrowing figures are expected to come below Chancellor Alistair Darling’s forecast of £178bn for the year.
The Government borrowed £12.4bn in February, lower than the £14bn expected by economists, meaning Darling (pictured) is set to undershoot his borrowing forecast.
The Office for National Statistics also revised its borrowing figures for January to just £43m from £4.3bn.
Reports now suggest that that for the 2009-10 financial year, borrowing will fall lower than Darling predicted to around £170bn.
But Institute of Directors chief economist Graeme Leach says: “Public sector borrowing was better than expected in February, but this does not change the need for radical action on the deficit.”
He adds: “We believe the best decision for the economy would be for the Chancellor to cut public spending earlier, faster and deeper than expected. This could surprise financial markets and lower gilt yields at a time when nerves are frayed over the possibility of a hung Parliament – and the threat of no deficit resolution.”
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Readers' comments (1)
John Harding | 19 Mar 2010 10:49 am
Wouldn't put it past Crash Gordon and Co. to have deliberately made that £178bn "guestimate" as high as possible so that when actual figures come in, hopefully under budget and totally coincidentally just at the moment of calling an election, they can spin it as 'part of a recovery that is now strongly under way!'
Let's not forget that the UK's 'crash' was arguably the worst of the large economies and that we are now the laggards in pulling out. All this courtesy of 'Big Brain' Crash Gordon's arrogant assertions that he knew best.
He now spins to us that all this 'experience' he gained taxing and spending, without making sure that his tax base was secure, means he is best placed to get the UK out of trouble.
I'm sure industry readers will appreciate the following.
'Past performance is no guarantee of future returns', but it is the best indeed only indicator we have.
The company that designed the car that was the worst performer in crash tests is either going to go out of business completely or be taken over by another company!
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