Thursday, Jul 17, 2008

Latest re-shuffling of the deckchairs on the Titanic

FT: Treasury to reform Brown’s fiscal rules

Treasury officials are working privately on plans to reform Gordon’s Brown’s fiscal rules on spending and debt with a new framework that would initially allow for increased borrowing. Details will not be finalised until the Treasury knows the outcome of the huge revisions to the national accounts, planned by the Office for National Statistics for the end of September, but the autumn pre-Budget report is seen as the right time to announce the change.With the government on course to break the rule limiting net public sector debt to 40 per cent of national income, a new framework would initially be looser.

Posted by jack c @ 11:42 PM (404 views) Add Comment

6 Comments

1. p. doff said...

Perhaps Gordon Brown had to write an open letter to the treasury to explain why his fiscal rule had been broken.

Expect some creative accounting (especially over Northern Rock), sleight of hand and spin.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:49PM Report Comment
 

2. jack c said...

If fiscal policy is loosened as intimated then the likelyhood is that monetary policy will be tightened - I expect the BOE (in due course) to come under increasing pressure to raise rates

Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:57PM Report Comment
 

3. Mr Plumbase said...

I wonder what will be joining PFI et al on the "off the books" list?

Friday, July 18, 2008 12:10AM Report Comment
 

4. Letsgetreadytotumble said...

I didn't understand a word of that. Is it my ignorance, or is the article full of econ-speak, or is it bull$hit?
So they want to borrow more money?
What are the implications?
I thought the ECB had asked Darling to reduce are borrowing to an agreed EU limit.
I also don't understand that borrowed money was 'invested'. I've heard Broon state this before. If invested, you can draw it back, or earn interest, but surely he just meant spend it.

Friday, July 18, 2008 12:25AM Report Comment
 

5. str 2007 said...

What have I been saying about a desperate politician and desperate party.

I must be getting old, because as each day passes I am getting a strong urge to become a politician.

Whether I'd be any good is another matter as my main concern/motivation is to do something good for my country and be remembered for it.

This man has not been voted in to this position by the population and he is setting about doing more damage to our country in his last 18 months in power as he's managed in the previous 10 years as chancellor.

Friday, July 18, 2008 01:14AM Report Comment
 

6. nooneo said...

This guy does so many U-turns he must be so dizzy he's been going in circles for nearly a year since the "election that never was". If this happens then he really is drinking in the last chance saloon. His, by now, very plastic smile has really started to make my skin crawl.

Surely the good people of Glasgow East, when they go into the ballot box next thursday realising that they, some of the poorest people in the country, have the direct power to remove the Prime Minister from office by simply voting for the opposition (SNP). That sort of "democratic" anomoly doesn't come along very often and is not to be sniffed at.

Friday, July 18, 2008 01:18AM Report Comment
 

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