Britain will start negotiations to leave the EU in March next year. According to new estimates issued by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) last Wednesday, the cost of BREXIT is going to be quite high. Between 2017-8, the OBR forecasts that the UK’s national debt will climb to a 52-year high. Over the next five years, the UK government will have to borrow an additional 122 billion pounds (approximately 4.88 trillion NT dollars) and GDP growth is expected to be 2.4 percent lower.
The OBR’s latest estimates were reported in Parliament by Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in the first budget statement by British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government since Britain’s referendum in June to leave the EU. The OBR predicts UK GDP growth will fall from this year’s 2.1 percent to 1.4 percent next year.
The OBR’s report warns that over the next five years Britain must borrow an extra 122 billion pounds on top of the forecast figure. Former chancellor George Osborne had originally aimed to achieve a budget surplus of 10.4 billion pounds in the fiscal year 2019-2020. The British government now expects the deficit to reach 22 billion pounds.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透社
(Liberty Times, translated by Edward Jones)
英國明年三月將啟動脫歐談判,據英國預算責任局上週三提供的最新估算,脫歐代價相當高,包括二O一七至二O一八年英國債務將攀至五十二年來最高、未來五年必須額外舉債一千二百二十億英鎊(約四兆八千八百億台幣)、且國內生產總值成長率減少二點四個百分點。
這份英國預算責任局發布的最新預測,由英國財長韓蒙德向議會報告,為梅伊政府於六月公投脫歐之後的首份預算。該局估計,英國國內生產總值成長率將由今年的百分之二點一降至明年的百分之一點四。
英國預算責任局報告還警示,未來五年英國將必須較先前所預測的額外借款一千二百二十億英鎊。前英國財長奧斯本原本目標是在二O一九至二O二O年會計年度實現預算盈餘一百零四億英鎊,但英國目前預測財政赤字將達二百二十億英鎊。
(自由時報記者楊芙宜)
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