UK economy faces a significant day
It's a very significant day for the economy.
We will hear from the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in Parliament and this evening from the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, at the important annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.
re are many questions arising internationally about British economic policy, especially as the Bank of England expands its emergency purchases of UK Government debt for a second day because of material risks to financial stability.
On Monday, UK government borrowing costs continued to soar close to levels seen just after the mini-budget.
means continued pressure on mortgage and business borrowing costs too. The Bank is worried about pensions funds obliged to sell UK government debts in a "fire sale dynamic".
fundamental issue remains the same however: markets are questioning whether the government can come up with a solution to its challenges that both adds up, and is politically viable.
While we have heard about some common global roots of the challenges of dealing with an energy shock and rising interest rates from the International Monetary Fund's new forecasts, the separate Institute for Fiscal Studies Green Budget makes for sobering reading.
Sluggish growth for five years, the highest interest rate bill for the government since 1950, the third highest government borrowing since World War Two. And the solution, if the government is to keep to its tax cut plan, will be £60bn of spending cuts. And that has to be done in less than three weeks, by Halloween.
For the third time the Bank of England has intervened to smooth things over, but it is not a solution.