Chancellor Gordon Brown says he will meet both of his key guiding rules on fiscal spending and investment through the next few years of the economic cycle, while ongoing investment should see its burden as a proportion of national income continue to fall.
The UK economy is on track to achieve growth of between 2%-2.5% in 2006-7, in line with predictions made in the Pre-Budget Report, Brown says, forecast to rise to between 2.75%-3.25% in 2007-8. Domestic demand is set to rise from 2%-2.5% to 2.75%-3.25% by fiscal 07-08, while exports should see growth of between 5%-5.25% by that year. UK economic growth has averaged 2.8% since 1997, among the fastest in the G7 alongside the US and Canada, and higher than the 2.1% average seen in 1979-1997, Brown says. UK national income per head puts the country in second place out of the seven member st...
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