| November budget deficit is second highest |
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LONDON: Britain's budget deficit is pegged at 9.3 billion pounds in November, which is the second highest since records started in 1993. According to details released by the Office for National Statistics Tuesday, public sector borrowing went up 8.9 per cent compared with November 2004 to 9.28 billion pounds.
Chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown had in his pre-budget report warned that he would have to borrow more than expected over the next five years. He had indicated a figure of 37 billion pounds for 2005-2006. For the fiscal year to date, the deficit totalled 31.4 billion pounds, compared to 34.5 billion pounds last year.
The chancellor had said he will meet his self-imposed fiscal rules with 16 billion pounds to spare. Analysts take this as a hint that the government may not increase taxes before the next election, which is due in 2010.
The ONS said tax revenues had indeed gone up 4.1 per cent in November compared with November 2004, but this has been more than offset by public spending, which had shown an increase of 6.5 per cent.
On the current budget measure, excluding investment spending, the deficit had been at 6.9 billion pounds in November, similar to a year before. The year-to-date figure was 19.3 billion pounds, down from 25 billion pounds in 2004.
The government now pins a lot of hope on the revival of the housing market. There are ample signs of recovery as brought out by several agencies in the field in the last few days. The Council of Mortgage Lenders reported that lending has gone up 5 per cent in November to 28.5 billion pounds, disproving claims that there could be a slowdown in the pre-Christmas days. CML said what is important is the fact that customers are showing more and more confidence in the market.
Even an otherwise staid Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors too felt house prices have started rising for the first time in 15 months.
The public finances have been showing deficits for the past three years, mainly because of huge spending on health and education.
Posted
on : Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:55 GMT | General News
By : Pippa Fielding
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