Britain’s government was on Wednesday set to unveil plans to grow the country’s recession-threatened economy, despite insisting on greater state savings as it struggles to meet its deficit-reduction target.
Finance minister George Osborne unveils his latest tax and spending plans in an annual budget likely to stick firmly to the coalition government’s austerity drive, even though the country’s economy is sailing close to another recession.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne, whose Conservative party heads a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, will present his this year-14 budget to parliament at 1230 GMT on Wednesday.
Analysts expect Osborne to stick to his so-called Plan A of driving down the record budget deficit inherited from the previous Labour administration in 2010 -- despite calls from both inside and outside the government to curb massive spending cuts.
On the eve of the budget announcement, Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office said some government departments would be made to cut their budgets to save 2.5 billion pounds (HK$29.3 billion) over the next two years.
The money saved would be used to on infrastructure spending, a spokesman said.
