LONDON, July 6 — Britain’s new finance minister Nadhim Zahawi pledged today to rebuild and grow the struggling economy and said he would look at all options to do that, including the possibility of tax cuts.
But he also faced questions in his first media interviews in the job about whether he would even have a chance to steer the economy out of its looming slowdown, given Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s weakened grip on power.Britain’s economy is showing clear signs of a slowdown as inflation heads for double-digits and it is forecast to be weaker than other big industrialised economies next year.
Zahawi, widely credited in the Conservative Party for successfully overseeing Britain’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, said 2023 was shaping up to be “really hard” and he would focus on the cost-of-living squeeze facing households.“Nothing is off the table,” he told BBC radio. “I will come back on your programme and happily talk about where I think can do more on taxes. We are determined to do that, as was my predecessor.
“We have just come out of the equivalent of a world war. We have to rebuild the economy and return to growth,” he said, adding the government would have to be careful about increases in public sector pay which could drive inflation higher.Zahawi was appointed after Sunak quit the job in protest at Johnson’s “standards” and citing differences over economic policy with the prime minister.
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