Spring Budget – Generous, but lacking a long-term growth plan

The Budget has taken a bit of a backseat given the renewed worries about the health of the global banking system, but the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was a bit more generous than we expected and probably plans to splash more cash ahead of the 2024/25 election. With inflation still high, this may just provide the Bank of England with more reason to raise interest rates further and keep them high for longer. That said, an escalation of the global banking issues would clearly push both fiscal and monetary policy off course.