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Pledge to fight UK debt
TREASURY OFFICIALS say further action will be taken to bring down Britain’s public borrowing, set to hit a record 12.4% of gross domestic product – £175 billion – this year.
They insist, however, that measures to cut the budget deficit will be taken over time and worries expressed last week by Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, are misplaced.
S&P revised its outlook for Britain’s sovereign debt rating from “stable” to “negative”, while maintaining the existing AAA status, warning that there could be a subsequent down-grade if measures are not introduced after the general election to rein back borrowing. It warned that public-sector debt could hit 100% of GDP over the next four years.
The International Monetary Fund, in its annual assessment of the UK economy, also warned that without “a more ambitious medium-term fiscal adjustment path”, trust in the sustainability of British policy would be tested.
You can read the rest of this story over at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6350155.ece
