"Britain may have to borrow £90 billion next year – almost twice as much as the Chancellor had expected - to deal with the ongoing ramifications of the credit crisis.Does the expression we are well and truly fucked cover this?
The sharp rise in borrowing has sparked fears that the Government may have to raise taxes to plug the growing shortfall in the public finances.
Economists calculate that income tax would have to rise by the equivalent of five pence in the pound to cover the extra borrowing. An analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicts that Government borrowing will be £63 billion this year and £90 billion in 2009-10 – the equivalent of £1,500 for every person in Britain next year.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, previously predicted that Government borrowing would be just £43 billion this year.
Another forecaster, Capital Economics, has predicted that the budget deficit – the gap between taxes raised and public expenditure which is covered by borrowing – will reach £100 billion in 2010-11. Britain already has the largest budget deficit of any developed country and the predicted increase in borrowing is likely to lead to a fall in the value of the pound.
Douglas McWilliams, the chief executive of the CEBR, said: "Ninety billion pounds is a huge amount of borrowing. Although there is little room to do much about it in the short term, it will overshadow public policy for many years to come." "
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