Data published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics showed the UK Treasury recording a surplus in March, £262 million versus a surplus of £407 million in February. The better than expected data at the end of the fiscal year means that, for the first time since 2002, the current budget deficit (using only the cost of day-to-day spending, not investment) is in surplus. Borrowing for the whole of 2017/2018 was £42.6 billion, lower than the Office of Budgetary Responsibility’s forecast which this coming year is expected to drop to £37.1 billion. Treasurer Hammond said, ‘our economy is at a turning point with debt starting to fall and people’s wages rising’.
As French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife are on the 3-day state visit to the United States, he and President Trump shown holding hands at the White House, French regulators made waves with high-profile corruption probes, Bloomberg reports. Yesterday the anti-bribery enforcers were uncharacteristically swift in marching billionaire Vincent Bollore to a police station for interrogation over business cases in Africa. This follows ex-President Sarkozy who last month was told he would stand trial on corruption and influence peddling.
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