LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - Britain's government is planning
to launch a big stimulus package before the summer with a focus
on creating jobs and infrastructure projects to help drag the
economy out of the coronavirus crisis, the Financial Times
reported.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak declined on Friday to say
whether he would bring forward his next budget statement, due in
the autumn, to spell out how he will tackle Britain's surging
debt.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government was elected in
December after promising to upgrade the country's creaking
infrastructure and the FT said this would form a central part of
its recovery programme, along with the retraining of workers.
"We are trying to identify shovel-ready projects — we want
to get a move on with this," it quoted one minister as saying.
Sunak said on Friday that employers hammered by the
coronavirus shutdown would have to gradually start contributing
to the government's hugely expensive wage subsidy scheme, but
only from August.
The government has been paying since March 80% of the wages
of workers who are temporarily laid off, and who now total 8.4
million, to limit a surge in unemployment.
While that has been warmly welcomed by unions and business
groups there are still fears that many jobs will go in sectors
which will struggle to reopen, such as hospitality, retail and
aviation.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)