On Borrowed Time: Finance and the UK's current account deficit

Article

The UK’s longstanding current account deficit indicates that the UK economy has a fundamental problem of international competitiveness.

While in the past we have been able to support this through international borrowing, this is not sustainable in the long-term, particularly if Brexit leads to a weakening of the economy and its perceived attractiveness to overseas lenders and investors.

This discussion paper sets out four key propositions on the drivers of our current account imbalance, the ways in which it makes our economy vulnerable and hampers overall economic performance, and the actions needed to reduce it.


Related items

  1. Man Writing Code on Desktop Computer With Multiple Monitors Set Up and a Laptop in Creative Office

    Bottleneck Britain: How digital competition could power UK growth and sovereignty

    Artificial intelligence could be the UK’s biggest economic opportunity in a generation, but only if its gains are spread across the economy rather than pooled within a handful of companies.
  2. A photograph of the UK houses of parliament in Westminster, with a background of pound coins

    Taxing times: Policies, politics, and principles

    This paper sets out proposals for the path to a better tax system, which is able to meet the demands of both the public and a more dangerous world.

  3. Towards a Communities Agenda 2.0

    Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street creates an opportunity to go much further on the communities agenda than we’ve seen up to now. So what should more ambition look like in practice?