LONDON (UK) – In a bid to honour the government’s pledge to address imbalances between different regions, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak will announce infrastructure investment to the tune of tens of billions of pounds next week.
His spending review on Nov. 25 will spell out how much needs to be spent over the next year by the government departments.
But those figures on investment will be overshadowed by the predictions indicating public borrowing is at its highest level since World War Two.
The pandemic crisis has caused a strain of 200 billion pounds to the government budget and forced the finance minister to abandon his four-year spending plan in favour of a much shorter programme. This has also sparked speculation about how it can be paid for.
While addressing Boris Johnson’s election campaign promise in 22019, Sunak, a former Goldman Sachs banker, will highlight infrastructure investment as the way to level up across the nation.
“We are absolutely committed to levelling-up opportunities so those living in all corners of the UK get their fair share of our future prosperity,” the minister said in a statement.
Between April and June, the nation’s economy shrivelled by 20% more than any other major economy and its recovery is slow. BoE has warned of an 11% fall in GDP for this year, the biggest dip since 1709.
The minister is expected to come out with a new infrastructure strategy, set new priorities for departments such as trade, transport, housing and education and will amend rules that determine which projects go ahead. He expects them to evenly distribute economic benefits across the country.
He said the package would be “a massive down-payment on a number of flagship infrastructure programmes, including fibre broadband, flood defences and key transport schemes.”