UK’s Hunt says autumn budget shows caution on global shocks, debt costs By David Lawder MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) – British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Friday that his Autumn budget statement would reflect caution about an uncertain global environment and a deteriorating financial position brought about by higher interest rates and debt service costs. […]
UK’s Hunt says autumn budget shows caution on global shocks, debt costs
By David Lawder
MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) – British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Friday that his Autumn budget statement would reflect caution about an uncertain global environment and a deteriorating financial position brought about by higher interest rates and debt service costs.
“The financial picture that I face is worse than in the Spring, and that means that I will have to take difficult decisions to make sure that in the face of what’s happening in Ukraine in Israel, in parts of Africa, we are resilient,” Hunt told reporters on the sidelines of World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Morocco.
Hunt said that projections of higher interest rates for longer were expected to increase Britain’s debt service costs by 20 billion to 30 billion pounds this year.
“That’s a huge change. That’s huge change. We need to respond to that in a way that doesn’t drive us into recession, but also make sure that the British economy is resilient to shocks going forward,” he said.
A massive increase in borrowing would be “reckless and the wrong thing to do,” Hunt said, adding that would make reducing the tax burden more difficult.
But he said the budget statement would show a “credible path” to lower taxation and to higher growth and productivity with targeted investments.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Alex Richardson )
