Now even Darling is admitting that the government was incompetent.
There were few at the time that didn't think Darling was wildly
optimistic, Now even he says so.
But he's sticking to the policies which he recommended for the
situation portrayed in his bad forecasting.
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THE TIMES 7.1.09
Darling: recovery may take longer than I thought
Robin Pagnamenta
Alistair Darling has admitted that Britain is "far from through" the
recession and hinted that the Government is preparing to ditch its
forecast for a recovery in the second half of this year.
In remarks made to the Financial Times, Mr Darling suggested that the
Treasury's most recent assessment of the economy, made at the Pre-
Budget Report in November, may have been overly optimistic and might
need to be revised at the spring budget.
At the time, Mr Darling suggested that the UK economy would be, by
now, half way through a recession and would begin to see recovery in
the second half of 2009.
The Chancellor also said in November that GDP would return to growth
of between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent in 2010.
Today, however, Mr Darling said those predictions had been based "on
the evidence we had at the time", adding: "This year is going to be
difficult. There are going to be some tough calls."
"In the current climate, no responsible finance minister could say
that's the job done, far from it. We are far from through this."
His comments emerged ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate
decision tomorrow when it is widely expected to slash borrowing costs
by between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent to their lowest level in history.
The Chancellor also said he was examining fresh measures designed to
stimulate the UK economy, including steps to support bank lending to
businesses. A package of measures is due to be announced over the
next few weeks.
Mr Darling is also this week expected to call for tough new global
financial regulations ahead of a G20 summit to be held in London in
April.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
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