Variety Of Schemes

In fact, the Minister is relying on an improvement in his ability to borrow from the public to reduce the deficit to somewhat more sensible proportions. He is introducing a variety of schemes (e.g., tax concessions confined to interest earned on Government stock or from small savings institutions which invest entirely or substantially in Government loans; the introduction of development bonds; restrictions on the rates of interest which can be paid by companies and local authorities) which will all work in the direction of attracting more loan-money to the Government and reducing its need to repay loans maturing this year.

But, despite these measures, an overall deficit of more than £20 million in the public account seems likely to remain. In short, the Government's finances are likely to operate clearly in an inflationary direction, when they should be doing exactly the opposite. In my view, this is the least responsible of Mr Nordmeyer's three Budgets.