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UK budget patches a hole but borrowing outlook much tougher
With strains on the public purse and the need still to keep down the UK’s risk premium after September 2022’s reckless mini-budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt had limited room for largesse in his 15 March budget. With a technical gross domestic product recession no longer expected, the Treasury’s coffers were around £30bn fuller than expected in Hunt’s 17 November statement, adjusted for definitional changes to student loans. But with financial markets watching, he was right to use no more than two-thirds of it in targeted measures, with the rest put towards short-term fiscal repair. By ... (full story)