We’re spending more than at any time since World War II – how will we pay it back?

With the UK spending vast sums on stimulus measures, this year’s budget deficit will be greater than at any time since World War II. The big question, of course, is how is it all going to be paid for?

Rishi Sunak
(Image credit: © Ilyas Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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We knew that governments were spending a lot of money on the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown. But even so, when you get to see just how much it is, it’s quite a shocker. The latest report from Britain’s fiscal watchdog is out and it makes it very clear just how big a crisis this is. The bigger question though for investors, is this: how is it all going to be paid for?

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.