Key takeaways from UK autumn statement

United Kingdom’s chancellor of exchequer Phillip Hammond delivered the much-awaited autumn budget statement yesterday. In case you have missed it, here are the key takeaways from the statement,

• UK’s economic growth is expected at 2.1 percent this year but likely to take a hit in 2017 when the economy is expected to grow by 1.4 percent driven by lower investments and higher inflation.
• Mr. Hammond said his government would seek to reach a budget surplus “as soon as practicable” with a surplus expected to come in the next parliament starting from 2020 and running to 2025.
• The UK government would borrow more in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. The borrowing targets are £68.2bn in 2016-17 (previous target: £55.5bn), £59bn in 2017-18 (£38.8bn), 46.5bn in 2018-19 and (£21.4bn), £21.9bn in 2019-20 (-£10.4bn), £20.7bn in 2020-21 (-£11bn), £17.2bn in 2020-21
• He announced a new £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund as part of his Autumn Statement.
• £2.3bn fund to help unlock land for housing.
• He promised a long-term increase in infrastructure spending.
• Insurance premium tax will rise from 10 percent at present to 12 per cent from next June.
• He unleashed several tax changes, such as curbing the VAT flat rate scheme and abolishing the tax advantages linked to employee shareholder status to raise £2bn, a removal of a tax break on salary sacrifice schemes on employees’ benefits from April next year, corporation tax rate to fall to 17 percent and not 15 percent as declared by George Osborne, raising of the personal allowance from £11,500 to £12,500, and raising the highest tax threshold to £50,000 by the end of the Parliament
• UK will abolish autumn budget statement from next year.
• Increased minimum wage rate to 7.50 from £7.20