Budget Watch : The UK economy
As we approach the next budget on 22 April Alistair Darling will be forced to seriously revise his previous forecasts about the UK economy. In November he suggested that the UK economy would slow down by between 0.75% and 1.25% during 2009 with a recovery in 2010 and return to growth of between 1.75% and 2.25%. However, with many analysts forecasting the UK economy to contract by as much as 3.2% in 2009 and only just break above even in 2010 we will see a significant reduction in previous forecasts.
Despite signs that the UK economy is starting to turn around, it will inevitably be a long haul with potential pitfalls along the way. The UK stock market and the UK money markets will have their eyes fixed on information being leaked from number 11 Downing Street in the run-up to the general election in the hope of receiving "inside information" about the future direction of the UK economy. It will be interesting to see how the UK government addresses the fact that previous forecasts, just six months ago, were seriously out of kilter with the ultimate performance of the UK economy.
There has been some debate about the accuracy of government data over the last couple of years with the suggestion of a root and branch review of the system.
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