The German ZEW survey will provide one of the first indications on March Eurozone economic activity. Given that the Committee recently released a report on labour supply issues Hunt may be questioned closely on whether last week’s announcements on pensions and childcare are likely to make much difference to the labour shortage problem. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt is scheduled to testify to a House of Lords Committee this afternoon. Nevertheless, as the OBR confirmed last week, the full borrowing outturn for 2022/23 looks as though it will come in around £25bn lower than looked likely last autumn due to better-than-expected economic conditions. That seems consistent with last week’s forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility that the borrowing figure for the current financial is likely to be at least modestly above last year, primarily because of the subsidies to offset higher gas prices. Just released data for UK public finances showed a February borrowing figure of £15.9bn, which is almost £10bn above the deficit at the same point a year ago. Nevertheless, there are a number of things of note.
As the US Federal Reserve is due to update on monetary policy tomorrow and the Bank of England on Thursday, markets are likely to be much more focused on speculating whether those meeting are likely to lead to further interest rate hikes than they are on today’s calendar. The attention of markets continues to be on the fallout from recent problems at some banks and in particular whether these issues are relatively isolated or potentially more systematic.
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