Thursday, July 12, 2012

UK needs extra spending cuts, says OBR

George Osborne

The UK government must make deeper cuts or raise more money in the future to keep public finances in check, the Office for Budget Responsibility says.

In its annual look at the government's finances, the OBR says in 2017-18 public spending needs to be cut by another £17bn or the same amount raised in taxes to stop debt ballooning.

The OBR says this change would bring total debt back to 40% of GDP by 2061.

Without the move it says debt would reach 89% of annual income by 2061.

It says the main reason more cuts are needed, on top of the £123bn already going through, is the rising healthcare costs caused by more people living longer.

It also says the fiscal position is unsustainable if the public sector's debt is not contained, as it would then take more of the national income to pay interest on its growing debts.

The OBR's report says its projections suggest that the public finances are likely to come under pressure over the longer term, "primarily as a result of an ageing population".

This would mean the government spending more on age-related items such as pensions and health care with revenues staying broadly the same.

This, it says would widen budget deficits over time and eventually put public sector net debt on an "unsustainable upward trajectory", which would lead to lower long-term economic growth and higher interest rates,

The OBR points out that the long-term outlook, which covers almost 50 years, is subject to "huge uncertainties" and that the figures should be seen as broad-brush projections rather than precise forecasts.

The OBR, which was created in 2010, is charged with providing an analysis of the sustainability of the public finances once a year.



Source & Image : BBC

No comments:

Post a Comment