Britain’s budget deficit narrowed more than economists forecast in November as tax revenue rose and the government’s fiscal squeeze restrained spending.
Net borrowing excluding support for banks fell to 18.1 billion pounds ($28.5 billion) from 20.4 billion pounds a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. The median of 15 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was a reading of 19.7 billion pounds. Tax revenue expanded 7.1 percent, while spending increased 0.8 percent.
The U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility cut its growth forecasts last month, prompting Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to borrow more and extend spending cuts to trim the budget deficit. The economic recovery has lost traction as officials in Europe, Britain’s biggest trading partner, struggle to contain the sovereign debt crisis, and Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday the U.K. is not immune to the turmoil.
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Japan Exports Fall a Second Month as BOJ Sees Weakness on Europe: Economy
Japan’s exports fell and the central bank lowered its assessment of the economy for a second straight month as weakening demand in Europe and Asia weigh on the outlook for global growth.
Shipments dropped a more-than-expected 4.5 percent in November from a year earlier, a Ministry of Finance report showed today in Tokyo. The Bank of Japan separately kept its asset-buying fund and credit-lending program unchanged, even as it said that a pick-up in activity has paused.
“Pressure on the BOJ to consider further easing is surging,” said Naomi Hasegawa, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. “Exports are losing steam.’”
Japanese manufacturers are cutting profit and spending forecasts as a yen near a postwar record against the dollar erodes confidence in the recovery from a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The nation’s credit rating was lowered one step from the top AAA grade by Rating & Investment Information Inc. today, citing delays in overhauling social security financing.
The median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 4.3 percent decline in exports. In October, shipments slid a revised 3.8 percent. The central bank said today that activity in the world’s third-biggest economy will “remain more or less flat for the time being.”
