UK sees grounds for economic confidence

Chancellor George Osborne has dismissed suggestions that the economic outlook for 2011 was gloomy as tax rises and spending cuts take effect.

“I think we can have some confidence that this country, Britain, is doing the right things to secure a sustainable recovery,” Osborne told reporters at the G20 summit in Seoul.

He was responding to a question about the outlook for inflation when the value-added-tas sales tax increases to 20 percent from 17.5 percent in January.

“If you look at the economic data, it has generally been on the optimistic side in recent weeks and that should give us some confidence as well,” he added.

The government has announced 81 billion pounds of spending cuts to tame a record budget deficit and the Labour party warns that the measures could kill off a fragile recovery.

Source: Reuters