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A fresh upward lurch in inflation is set to punch a new hole in household finances on the eve of George Osborne's Budget.The consumer prices index is expected to have risen an annual 4.2% last month, economists warned ahead of figures due out tomorrow. The following day, the Government's Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to increase sharply its estimates for gains in the cost of living as part of forecasts released in the Budget. The Bank of England already expects inflation to hover over 4% for the whole year, the Times reports.George Osborne will this week offer Budget sweeteners to low earners, motorists and holidaymakers but has made plain there is no scope for giveaways or slackening the pace of cuts. The chancellor said on Sunday that he had no need to inflict further pain through tax rises or spending cuts, suggesting he believes the new measures in the March 23 Budget will be broadly fiscally neutral. But his room for manoeuvre is constrained, even though this year's deficit is likely to undershoot the official forecast of £148.5bn by £8bn, according to the Ernst & Young Item Club, an independent forecaster, the FT reports.The Chancellor is desperately trying to convince Sir Martin Sorrell to bring his WPP advertising empire back to the UK with a promise to reduce taxes on profits collected overseas. Sir Martin moved WPP's tax base to Ireland in September 2008 in protest at the previous government's move to increase taxes on overseas profits. The Treasury is attempting to convince Sir Martin to move WPP's headquarters back to the UK with a promise of "reformed" controlled foreign company (CFC) rules, the Telegraph reports.AT&T, the world's largest telecoms company, revealed last night that it will buy its struggling rival T-Mobile USA. The $39bn (£24bn) deal, larger even than Telefónica's £18bn acquisition of O2 in 2005, will push AT&T ahead its arch-rival Verizon Wireless in terms of customer numbers. The sale of the fourth-largest mobile network in America ends a strategic headache for Deutsche Telekom, its German owner. The company entered the United States in 2001 when it paid $21bn for the subsequently rebranded Voicestream, the Times reports.A former nurse who received one of the highest sex discrimination payouts to date when she left a company she founded could end up losing millions of pounds in another courtroom battle. Kate Bleasdale, who was dismissed from Healthcare Locums this month amid accusations of "accounting irregularities", is going to the High Court over a dispute with a company that makes clothing identification tags. Ms Bleasdale and her husband John Cariss invested in Stayput Solutions, which was founded by Debbie Forster, the Times reports.Western governments face a sharp surge in borrowing costs as their debt mountains hit the highest levels since the Second World War, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. In a blunt speech, John Lipsky, the IMF's first deputy managing director, said that advanced nations were running the risk of a "fiscal crisis" and that harsh measures would be needed to rein in debt. He singled out the United States and Japan, saying that both countries needed to spell out "credible" plans to get their deficits under control, the Times reports.More than 20 green groups are boycotting this week's Climate Week activities, blaming the "cynical" sponsorship by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which provides finance to the coal industry. Taxpayer-owned RBS provided finance worth nearly $8bn (£4.9bn) to the world's biggest coal mining and coal-fired electricity generators over the past three years, more than any other UK bank, according to a report to be published this morning by campaign group Platform, the Independent reports.Vodafone has emerged as the leading UK company in a league table of the world's top brands, standing at fifth place in a list dominated by American companies. Google topped the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report, boasting a brand value of more than $44bn. The top ten also features Microsoft, in second place with a brand value of nearly $43bn, IBM and Apple, whose brand was given a value of nearly $30bn over 2010, the Independent reports.