UK Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the country has “lost stability” economically mainly because of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Daily Mirror reports.
According to Hunt, the government can normalize the economic situation in the kingdom by solving the problem of inflation together with the Bank of England.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt blamed Russia for the recession in the country. According to him, it was Russia that created the situation in the world that led to inflation and rising interest rates, according to the Daily Mirror.
The treasury secretary claims that the UK has “lost stability” mainly because of the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
“This is a Made in Russia recession and we need to restore stability in order to take the first step towards growth,” Hunt said.
He warned of the “possibility” of an official recession in the UK after the country’s GDP contracted by 0.2% between July and September. “The question is not whether we are in a recession, but what we can do to make it shorter and not as deep,” the minister said.
According to him, “the main thing” that he can do now in order to normalize the economic situation in the country is to solve the problem of skyrocketing inflation together with the Bank of England.
“If we can, together with the Bank of England, control inflation, then we can contain the global rise in interest rates, contain the rise in mortgage rates that people see, contain the cost of loans that businesses take out, and we will have a chance to return everything to normal,” — cites the edition of Hunt’s words.
However, the minister warned that the government would have to make “terrible decisions” on taxes and spending in order to tamp down inflation and restore stability in the country. Hunt argues that the British public wants the Conservative Party to be credible rather than seeking “popularity”. Therefore, in the coming week, the government will try to provide “certainty” for families and businesses that it has a plan to stabilize the economy.
After the adoption of the new budget on Thursday, “the heaviest burden will be borne by the people with the broadest shoulders,” he said. So, according to the Daily Mirror, one of the options under consideration is to lower the threshold from which the wealthiest Britons start paying the maximum tax rate.
However, Hunt also pointed out that ultimately the rise in the cost of energy cannot but affect the broader mass of people, since the government cannot afford to reduce their bills indefinitely.
“We have to be honest with people – it is impossible to subsidize electricity bills indefinitely,” the politician said.
It is expected that the average cost of most British households will rise in the spring, when the initial phase of the energy price guarantee ends. However, the chancellor is expected to be considering a support package to protect the most vulnerable, including pensioners and welfare recipients, starting next April.
The material is presented in the retelling of InoTV
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