U.K. Treasury chief predicts no recession in Britain this year

There have been predictions that the U.K. would dip into recession in part because of record inflation and rising energy prices due to the war in Ukraine

U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt staged a moment of high political theatre on March, unveiling his budget to a crowd of baying lawmakers as consumers demand more help with the high cost of living and workers press for higher wages with strikes at schools, hospitals and the offices of civil servants.

Even as Mr. Hunt plays his historically scripted role — emerging from his official residence with the spending plan in a battered red dispatch box, then carrying it to the House of Commons where he was greeted by jeers and cheers — the truth is he sought to be as boring as possible.

That’s because the last time the government staged a similar “fiscal event”, the mini-budget presented by Mr. Hunt’s predecessor last September, it set off an economic catastrophe by promising huge tax cuts without saying how it would pay for them. The value of the pound plunged, mortgage rates soared and the Central bank was forced to intervene to protect pension funds.

This time, strong and stable is the goal. He predicted the country will not enter technical recession this year and that the government will “take whatever steps are necessary for economic stability”.

“Today the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that because of changing international factors and the measures I take, the U.K. will not now enter a technical recession this year,’’ he told the House of Commons on Wednesday.

At one point, he even offered funding for the "curse'' of potholes, handing over £200 million ($241 million) to local communities to get rid of them.

ALSO READ | Ukraine war is exacerbating fragilities in the global economy: G20 Ministers