Ian Stewart, Chief Economist at Deloitte, comments.
Mr Osborne's message is that Britain's on the mend, but
he needs time to finish the job.
The Office of Budget Responsibility projects that the UK is
heading for the strongest growth in seven years, enough for the UK
to outperform two BRIC nations, Brazil and Russia this year.
The OBR forecasts a boom in capital spending, with capex rising
50% over the next five years. This seems wholly credible and fits
with record readings on corporate risk appetite coming from the
latest Deloitte CFO Survey, high levels of capacity utilisation and
growing investor pressure for investment.
Austerity will run through the next Parliament, with about half
of all the required cuts in public spending to come after the
election.
