Responding to the public sector finance numbers released by the Office for National Statistics today (Thursday 23 June 2022), Alison Ring OBE FCA, Public Sector and Taxation Director for ICAEW, said:
“A slightly higher deficit than expected in this month’s numbers and a rising interest bill will not provide any comfort for the Chancellor as he considers how to respond to public sector wage demands at the same time as attempting to build capacity for pre-election tax cuts next year.
“The economic storm clouds hovering over the fiscal outlook, as living standards go into reverse and inflation erodes the extent of planned investment in local communities, are likely to make the government’s ambition to level up the country even more difficult to achieve.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The ONS data is available here.