UK’s Sunak: No rush to fix public finances, can’t be fixed overnight

As he readies an additional fiscal budget, the UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said that he is not in any rush to fix the public finances while speaking in a Sky News interview on Sunday.

Key takeaways

He would “level with people” about how Britain’s 2.1 trillion-pound debt pile would carry on growing without action.

“This is not something that’s going to happen overnight. Given the scale of the shock we’ve experienced, the scale of the damage, this is going to take time to fix.”

“But it’s important ... to also have strong public finances over time.”

“Interest rates have been at very low levels, which does allow us to afford slightly higher debt levels.”

“But that can always change and we’re seeing that in the last few weeks.”

“We have to be acute to that possibility.”

Sunak is due to deliver his budget to parliament on Wednesday, in yet another effort to help sail the UK economy through a gradual lifting of lockdown measures that will last at least until late June.