UK debt 'not worse than other European nations'

Problems surrounding the UK’s budget deficit are no worse than those facing other European countries, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has claimed.

David Kern, economic advisor at the BCC, said that Britain will meet significant challenges as it attempts to recover from the recession but insisted that these are ’not unique to the UK’.

His comments follow the publication of a report from the European Commission which stated that the worsening budget deficits of the UK, Spain, Ireland, Greece and Latvia are ’a serious concern’.

Mr Kern said: ’Every major country has a deficit problem and … because of the recession the deficit has ballooned enormously.

’At the moment the deficit is worse in the UK than in other countries, but the level of debt that we have is smaller.’

According to the European Commission’s report, Ireland currently has the highest budget deficit in the European Union at 15 per cent of GDP, while the UK’s budget has now reached 13.8 per cent of GDP.

The commission warned that growing national debts could damage the ability of countries to satisfy future needs, such as pension payments.
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