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UK finance minister weighs delaying autumn budget on 2nd COVID-19 wave

Europe Materials 12 August 2020 06:53 (UTC +04:00)
UK finance minister weighs delaying autumn budget on 2nd COVID-19 wave

British finance minister Rishi Sunak is weighing options to shelve his autumn budget if Britain is hit by a big second wave of the coronavirus, Trend reports citing Reuters.

While Sunak expects to deliver his budget as planned, it is a sign of government anxiety over a possible autumn COVID-19 spike that he is ready to delay big public spending decisions until after the crisis, the Financial Times said.

Britain risks a second wave of COVID-19 in the winter twice as large as the initial outbreak if it reopens schools full-time without improving its test-and-trace system, according to a study published last week.

The government wants all pupils to return to school by early September, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling this a national priority.

In the event the budget is postponed — probably until spring 2021 — Sunak would be expected to produce a “mini-spending review” in the autumn, allocating spending to departments for just a single year, the FT said.

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