(Adds details from FT report)
Oct 27 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are considering tax increases and public spending cuts of up to 50 billion pounds ($57.84 billion) a year to plug a hole in the public finances, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. citing allies of the Chancellor.
Ministers hope the measures will not have to be implemented in full in the budget statement to be released on November 17, the FT said, but officials want the government to use the £50billion estimate after receiving weak economic forecast from the Office for Fiscal Responsibility.
The £50bn figure comes from Treasury calculations showing an initial budget hole of between £30bn and £40bn, which will require tax hikes or spending cuts of around £45bn, as attempts to fill it will worsen the economic outlook, which will in turn impact future tax revenues, according to the newspaper.
Hunt, in the meantime, is considering raising the windfall tax rate for oil and gas producers, the report said, citing people briefed on his thinking. ($1 = 0.8645 pounds) (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru edited by Chris Reese)