Daniel Mahoney has written for CityAM’s opinion page today, Monday 6 March 2017, warning agaist the temptation to offer spending commitments in the upcoming budget. Phillip Hammond’s first budget as Chancellor comes shortly after the announcement of better than expected economic growth figures but that shouldn’t mean a rapid increase in spending.
“Significant fiscal giveaways, however, cannot be a feature of this Budget. The deficit remains above 3 per cent of GDP, and it is imperative that the UK achieves a budget surplus at the earliest possible opportunity. A persistently high debt to GDP ratio is associated with a negative impact on economic growth and would be detrimental to the UK economy’s future prospects.
But this does not mean the government’s hands are tied in helping the JAMs. In particular, there is plenty of scope to reduce the cost of housing and household bills without any hit to Treasury revenues in the short or long term.”
Click here to read the full article.
Date Added: Monday 6th March 2017
