By Laura Kemp • Published: 23 Apr 2020 • 11:40
An independent economics forecaster for the British government, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has estimated that the UK’s budget deficit could reach £273 billion this year if the current lockdown measures are extended for an additional three months, this total is £200 billion higher than the previous forecast.
To make things worse, government finances were already deteriorating before the coronavirus pandemic, as they had to borrow are £1.3 billion more than expected in the prior year, totalling the borrowed debt to £48.7 billion last year.
A UK Economist at the Capital Economics consultancy firm, Thomas Pugh, has alarmed that this will be a “double whammy for the public finances” as the “government measures to combat the economic fallout of the coronavirus at the same time as revenues are hit by the huge contraction in economic output.”
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Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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