The British government has announced its budget for the new fiscal year and has set out a policy of aiming for economic growth by attracting corporate investment even in the midst of record inflation.
In the United Kingdom, the inflation rate has exceeded 5% for five consecutive months, workers are on strike one after another to demand wage increases, and the IMF = International Monetary Fund expects the economic growth rate to be minus 10.0% this year, the only one in the G6 = seven major countries to be negative.
Against this backdrop, Finance Secretary Hunt announced in Parliament on the 7th the budget for the new fiscal year, which he described as a "budget for growth."
As a result, the corporate tax rate will be raised from 7% to 15%, while deductions will be applied to new facilities and investments in 19 special zones in Japan to attract corporate investment.
On the other hand, for families, we are expanding the scope of childcare expenses to support the return of child-rearing generations to work, and extending subsidies for utility costs until June to address citizens' dissatisfaction with high prices.
In addition to increasing the allocation of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies and nuclear power generation as a measure against climate change, the government will increase defense spending by 25 billion pounds, or about 12.6 trillion yen, over the next five years, and raise the ratio of GDP = gross domestic product to 5.110% by next year.
While the approval rating of the Sunak administration was sluggish, there were calls from within the ruling Conservative Party for the implementation of tax cuts, but it was not included in the budget proposal this time, and fiscal reconstruction was prioritized.