(Adds details from FT report, Treasury statements on mortgage
scheme and a task force to tackle COVID-19 fraudsters)
Feb 26 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak will
use the budget next week to level with the public over the
"enormous strains" in the country's finances, warning that a
bill will have to be paid after further coronavirus support,
according to an interview with the Financial Times.
Sunak told the newspaper there was an immediate need to
spend more to protect jobs as the UK emerged from COVID-19, but
warned that Britain's finances were now "exposed."
UK exposure to a rise of one percentage point across all
interest rates was 25 billion pounds ($34.83 billion) a year to
the government's cost of servicing its debt, Sunak told FT.
"That (is) why I talk about leveling with people about the
public finances (challenges) and our plans to address them," he
said.
The government has already spent more than 280 billion
pounds in coronavirus relief and tax cuts this year, and his
March 3 budget will likely include a new round of spending to
prop up the economy during what he hopes will be the last phase
of lockdown.
He is also expected to announce a new mortgage scheme
targeted at people with small deposits, the UK's Treasury
announced late on Friday.
Additionally, the government will also announce a new 100
million pound task force to crack-down on COVID-19 fraudsters
exploiting government support schemes, it said.
($1 = 0.7178 pounds)
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie
Adler and Cynthia Osterman)