Economy faces global hazards warns Osborne

GEORGE Osborne will today warn that ‘shifting tectonic plates’ on the global economy are generating ‘tremors’ around the world.

Following the worst start to a year on global stock markets since the Great Depression, the Chancellor will say that Britain is at risk from a ‘hazardous mix’ of threats.

At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he will say: ‘We face a dangerous cocktail of risks from the global economy.’

The Chancellor will tell the bosses of Britain’s biggest companies that the increase in oil from Iran as well as the United States is ‘good news’ but creates ‘volatility’.

But with inflation low in Britain and record numbers of people in work, he will add: ‘My message today is one of confidence: we can meet these risks and overcome them, if we stick to our plan.

‘So I wanted to explain what the best antidote for the dangerous cocktail is: to offer concrete proposals on how the global economy needs to change.

‘We need to see every shoulder at the wheel. Every country acting as one in search of growth.’

His words came as Bank of England Governor Mark Carney this week warned that the global financial backdrop was ‘unforgiving’ as he insisted that ‘now is not yet the time’ to raise interest rates in the UK.