Government finances record £9.4bn surplus in January

Government finances recorded a £9.4bn in surplus in January, £0.3bn higher than the same month last year.

Boosted by self-assessment tax receipts, January is typically a strong month for government finances.

For the financial year-to-date, borrowing stands at £49.3bn, the lowest since the comparable period of 2008.

Economists say strong tax receipts mean the government could undershoot the forecast deficit of £68bn for the current financial year.

The forecast was made by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in November's Autumn Statement, although this estimate marked a sharp revision from the previous prediction of £55.5bn.

Kamal Ahmed: Chancellor Hammond’s £10bn of green shoots

Philip Hammond presents his Budget on 8 March, and the chancellor will base his budget calculations on updated figures on growth and borrowing supplied by the OBR.

In a statement, a Treasury spokesperson said: "We remain committed to returning the public finances to balance and building on our progress in reducing the deficit from 10% to 4% of GDP over the last six years."

Earlier this month, the EY Item Club economic think tank said that estimated borrowing for the 2016-17 financial year could be revised down to £65bn from the £68bn forecast made in the Autumn Statement.

"The OBR is likely to deliver some rare good news to the chancellor by revising down its forecast for public sector net borrowing in the current fiscal year," the EY Item Club said in its Budget preview.

"Unusually, tax revenues have been performing better than expected in recent months," it said.
'Better shape'

Other forecasters are even more optimistic about the outlook for UK finances.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC, thinks that borrowing for the financial year could be less than £60bn. As a result, the chancellor might have some room for extra spending in the Budget.

"Overall, the public finances now look in rather better shape than they did three months ago, and more in line with other data showing a relatively robust UK economy in the period since the Brexit vote.

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The Most Promising Jobs In Finance In 2017

Some jobs in finance haven’t changed much over the past few decades, but technology has also given rise to entirely new roles. Professional networking platform LinkedIn looked at millions of user profiles and more than 140,000 finance job openings to identify the most promising roles based on five criteria: salary, likelihood of career advancement, number of U.S. job openings, year-over-year growth in openings and regional availability.

To see the list of the most promising jobs in finance, view the gallery below. 

First place went to financial analyst, a role that often involves preparing budgets, reporting financial performance and deciding if new projects should be funded. With a median base salary of $62,000 according to LinkedIn, there’s strong demand for the job—it had 1,700 openings on LinkedIn as of last week.

Underwriting manager ranked second. Mortgage and insurance underwriters evaluate applicants’ financial backgrounds to predict if people can pay bay home loans or what price they should pay for insurance. Underwriting managers have median pay of $102,000, and firms often require 5 to 10 years’ experience for candidates to be eligible.

Quantitative analyst was the third most promising job. As technology infiltrates finance, the need for technical and quantitative skills grows. A recent quantitative analyst opening at Morgan Stanley involved using models to assess risk and analyzing historical hedge fund data. It required five years’ experience and a Ph.D. in a quantitative field. With about 200 openings, there were fewer opportunities for quantitative analysts on LinkedIn relative to the other roles in this ranking, but the median salary of $105,000 was the list’s highest.  

For More Information:- Jeff Kauflin