Boost for Sunak as borrowing falls ahead of spring statement Business

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All eyes are on the UK borrowing figures this morning in hopes that Rishi Sunak can unveil further measures to ease the cost of living crisis this week.

The budget deficit is £26billion lower than forecast in the first 11 months of the financial year, giving the Chancellor some breathing room ahead of tomorrow’s Spring Statement.

At £13.1bn, government borrowing in February was down from a year ago, but higher than expected by £8bn.

This increase is largely due to soaring inflation, which has pushed up the cost of servicing the public debt.

5 things to start your day

1) Director quits Civil Aviation Authority over British Airways shares The fiasco comes weeks after the head of Heathrow Airport was removed from the hiring committee

2) Boris Johnson opts for the nuclear option in the field of energy A new security of supply emergency puts atomic energy back on the agenda

3) London property prices are ‘50% overvalued’, sparking fears of a correction Analysts warn prices are set to fall

4) Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of “jam tomorrow” He’s got the fiscal firepower to help save households, but his ‘low-key’ spring statement may not be when he chooses to use it

5) Massive P&O layoffs put hundreds more ferry jobs at risk, rival warns DFDS tells Grant Shapps he may have to start using agency workers if he allows ‘unequal playing field’

What happened overnight

Gains in banking, energy and mining stocks lifted Asian stocks a little higher on Tuesday as investors braced for aggressive U.S. rate hikes and war disrupting oil supplies.

Oil futures rose nearly 3% to hit a two-week high in Asia.

The yen broke the key 120 level against the dollar for the first time since 2016 and Treasuries extended losses after the chairman of the US Federal Reserve announced a more aggressive-than-expected monetary policy tightening on Monday.

MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific ex-Japan equity index rose 0.2pc. The Japanese Nikkei rose 1.7% to 27,276.

China’s blue chip index opened 0.2pc lower while Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index rose 0.7pc.

coming today

• Business : Alliance Pharma, Harworth, Kingfisher, Luceco, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Staffline (full year); Carnival, SCS, Softcat, YouGov (temp worker)
• Economy: Public sector net debt (UK)