The chancellor’s pet PuFins have an important role – but they need more scrutiny | Nils Pratley
Source: The Guardian ·
An Office for Budget Responsibility for public financial institutions like the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank is starting to look essentialTwo winners in the budget are known already. They are the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the British Business Bank (BBB), state-funded investment bodies that have rapidly become central to the government’s growth strategy.Former chancellor…
From the source
Two winners in the budget are known already. They are the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the British Business Bank (BBB), state-funded investment bodies that have rapidly become central to the government’s growth strategy. Former chancellor Rachel Reeves handed extra slugs of capital to both and now John Healey is going further. The NWF will get another £15.4bn over the next half decade, on top of its existing £27.8bn, and there’ll be another £5bn for the BBB, which already has £30.6bn. Expect a fanfare about “over 100,000 jobs across the country to be created” via the extra capital for these so-called PuFins. The term means public financial institutions that invest in private sector assets, either directly or through third-party funds, with the aim of making a profit for the taxpayer – or, at least, earning a return that matches or beats the government’s cost of borrowing. Cue, also, another round of debate about whether Healey is engaged in fancy financial footwork to get around…