Uk Current Account Deficit At New High

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35931968

"The UK's current account deficit widened to a record high in the final quarter of last year.

The deficit in the three months to December was £32.7bn, the equivalent of 7% of GDP, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

For all of 2015, it came to £96.2bn or 5.2% of GDP. Both figures were the highest since records began in 1948"

Do all you AB Tory Supporters still believe that Osborne has been doing a wonderful job, over the last nearly 6 years ?

[Zacs-Master]

Yep. Next question.

[emeritus]

A more Balanced summary from the FT

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc586174-f72d-11e5-96db-fc683b5e52db.html#axzz44UZvvCkq

[Old_Geezer]

Next question would be "Why ?" ?

[Zacs-Master]

All relative, innit.

[youngmafbog]

If he had had the bottle to really screw the benefits system and immigration from the start then we would be better off.

Mind you then there would have been more money for the grasping EU to take.

Has he been doing a wonderful job, no. Has he been better than ok, yes (I grudgingly admit)

As I said many years ago (on here), such was the state of the finances from Labour it wold take 10-15 years to squarte out given the Global issues compounding labours spendthift ways.

[Gromit]

Don't forget the National debt has doubled under Osborne.
It is now a whopping £1.6 Trillion.

[ToraToraTora]

yes, at least he's not making a BALLS of it!

[ToraToraTora]

Ok gromit, I'm all in favour of cutting money to foreigners and WSS, so we can make saving there. Then there's the Gazillion we pay to our EU enemies. I'm happy to cut that if you are.

[Ken4155]

Perhaps those who run my beloved Burnley FC should take over the running of the country:-)

[ToraToraTora]

.....and you want us to bail out the Taff steel plant! PMSL!

[mikey4444]

Oh dear !...Poor Osborne !....damned by faint praise it would seem !

[youngmafbog]

Sorry Mickey dont get you.

[bazwillrun]

if labour were in charge and i use the term charge very loosely then the debts woyld be astonomically higher so dont start getting too cocky...

we all know from past experience what your so called shambles of a party do to the economy with their ever ready wrecking ball...

[fiction-factory]

The current account deficit reflects the value of money flowing in and out including, most importantly, the amounts individuals and businesses import relative to what we export. It's down to individual decisions by us rather than on how government controls spending on things like benefits and 'immigration'.
The figures can be bad news on their own of course but the article also has some positive news on growth which Mikey may have overlooked:

"At the same time, ONS figures showed the UK economy grew 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2015, higher than previous estimates of 0.5%.
As a result, the economy grew by 2.3% for the whole of 2015, rather than 2.2% as previously thought.
The upgrade to the growth figure came as a surprise to analysts, who had forecast that it would remain unchanged.
The ONS said the revision in GDP was caused by a stronger performance in the services sector and a smaller contraction in industrial production."

[New Judge]

There seems to be a bit of a paradox here,

As I am led to believe, the UK is suffering from a prolonged period of “austerity”, the likes of which the civilised world has never witnessed. People are dying in the gutters, children are starving, government services are being pared beyond the bone by the most vicious and evil Tory government the world has ever known (well, at least since 1991 anyway). The end of life as we know it is not too far off.

But then I read this:

“For all of 2015, it came to £96.2bn or 5.2% of GDP. Both figures were the highest since records began in 1948"

And this:

“Don't forget the National debt has doubled under Osborne. It is now a whopping £1.6 Trillion.”

What’s happening with all this money?

Could it be anything to do with the fact that about £1.50 of every £7 taken in taxes is spent on welfare (excluding State pensions which have been funded by the recipients)? Could it be that £30bn a year is spent topping up people’s wages, many of them from abroad? Could it be that £12bn a year is given to foreign nations? Could it be that a similar sum is handed over to the EU every year? Could it be that £40bn a year is spent servicing debts accumulated by the previous administration which the current one seems unwilling to reduce (see the previous four questions).

No Mr Osborne has not done a good job. He has had ample scope to reduce government spending (which is currently absolutely scandalous in its profligacy). He’s bottled it for fear of appearing “nasty”. What is nasty is to appropriate huge sums of people’s hard earned, squandering it and having to borrow more to give away to foreigners and wastrels.

[CrapAtCryptics]

Just a bit behind the US - they are over 19 TRILLION

[fiction-factory]

I know the OP was about the current account deficit but the responses seem to be focusing on the national debt. Despite the talk of austerity, as NJ has made clear, the national debt continues to grow and will continue to do so as there is no appetite for the sort of cuts that would be needed and, anyway, the vast majority of public expenditure is now ring fenced- NHS, pensions, welfare, etc.- so Osborne has no room for manouvre. Even things such as EU expenditure and foreign aid are not presently negotiable (but the former may be next year or the year after)

[Baldric]

///over the last nearly 6 years ? ///

Let's be honest, given the state Labore left the national finances in, had they continued the Country would be bankrupt by now as is proven by their track record, again and again.

[Svejk]

And which ABer cheers the loudest when this government do a u-turn on a cutback?
Probably believes, like Labour, we can s̶p̶e̶n̶ invest our way out of debt. (no, I don't get it either)

[naomi24]

Can't help thinking that Mikey, having awarded New Judge 'Best Answer', only read this bit of his post.

//No Mr Osborne has not done a good job.//