Faisal Islam: Inflation and borrowing figures illustrate chancellor's Budget challenge
Source: BBC ·
The economic figures released on Wednesday show the constraints for John Healey as he puts the finishing touches to his Budget.
From the source
The Chancellor was on a early flight to North East Scotland on Wednesday to announce new North Sea energy approvals as the last set of major economic figures dropped. From a mile high, as well as close up, the figures for inflation and for the public finances set out his Budget balancing act in clear terms. The National Debt has topped £3 trillion for the first time in the official figures. The headline rate of inflation has hit 3.5% and is surely heading back up to 4% in the coming months. Borrowing is running ahead of forecasts, as spending and interest costs increase. These show the constraints for John Healey as he puts the finishing touches to his statement next week. On the one hand he says he wants to give "breathing space" to consumers yet again feeling the heat from cost of living pressures. The public finances remain under pressure, however, from the double whammy of rising inflation and borrowing costs. While inflation was of course expected to increase as petrol and…