March 2011
With the UK economy shrinking by 0.6 per cent at the end of 2010, soaring food and fuel prices and large scale public sector lay-offs about to start, the Chancellor of The Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne MP, is expected to unveil a wide range of pro-growth measures in his budget statement on Wednesday 23 March.
To help understand the measures announced, and their implications for infrastructure, Halcrow’s economics team will be analysing the chancellor’s announcement and publishing a briefing document on Halcrow’s economics blog early on Thursday 24 March. The team will also hold a presentation at 2pm GMT on the same day.
You are invited to join the presentation by using our WebEx web conferencing software on your PC and dialling in by telephone. See right for details on how to register for this event.
Halcrow’s chief economist Andrew Price said: “George Osborne is expected to unveil a wide range of measures designed to encourage faster economic growth, improve competitiveness and enterprise and stimulate growth in private sector employment. Many expected measures are likely to relate to infrastructure.
"Our analysis of the budget statement and our budget presentation will enable our employees and clients to keep up-to-date with how the announcement affects our industry. Last October’s spending review assessment was well received by our clients and the technical press. We plan to provide a similar level of scrutiny of measures announced in the budget."
Some of the issues likely to feature in the budget statement are:
- the outcome of the growth review, including plans to establish Enterprise Zones
- progress in implementing the national infrastructure plan
- the establishment of a green investment bank reforms to the planning system to speed up the approval of strategic infrastructure
- the introduction of a fuel duty stabiliser
- an action plan to implement recommendations from the infrastructure cost review
- tax increment financing, regulatory asset base based economic regulation and changes to local government business rates regime to help fund infrastructure
- New Treasury ‘Green Book’ supplementary guidance for assessing economic infrastructure
- progress on energy market reforms and the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) review.