The cost of looking after the country's ageing population will become unsustainable unless younger generations work longer and pay higher taxes, analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found.
The accounting firm’s research into the long-term health of the public finances comes a week ahead of an official study on the subject by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
It suggests government debts could hit 90% of GDP by 2050 unless the UK raises the retirement age to 70 and embarks on severe fiscal tightening.
While there are currently 3.6 working age people for every pension age person, this is set to fall to 2.4 people by 2050, PwC said. MORE…
The credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Portugal’s debt to junk status. It said there was a growing risk the country would need a second bail-out before it was ready to borrow money from financial markets again. MORE..
