Cameron: No new stimulus
PRIME Minister David Cameron warned yesterday that Britain’s path back to growth “will be a difficult one” ahead of growth figures today that will reveal Britain’s economy flatlined for most of the year.
Gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the Office for National Statistics are expected to show this morning how the economy grew just 0.2 per cent between April and June, less than half the level of the previous three months.
Cameron and chancellor George Osborne refused to join calls by Vince Cable, the business secretary, for the Bank to print more money to lift the economy.
After being briefed on the growth figures, the Prime Minister said the country could not afford to boost the economy through more quantitative easing.
“There is no country really that can afford another fiscal stimulus,” David Cameron told reporters. “They’ve all run out of money. There isn’t some great monetary stimulus you can give when interest rates are as low as they are.”
Osborne also spoke ahead of today’s figures claiming he had “turned Britain into a safe harbour in a storm” by focusing so rigidly on deficit reduction.