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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest Business Bulletin on Wednesday the 26th of March.
00:05Chancellor Rachel Reeves is delivering her spring statement today.
00:08She'll acknowledge the government needs to go further and faster to kickstart growth.
00:12Major cost-cutting measures are expected to help balance the nation's books without hiking taxes.
00:17She's also expected to stick to her rule of meeting day-to-day spending through tax receipts
00:22rather than extra borrowing.
00:24She's likely to blame global economic headwinds for the state of the economy.
00:28In other grim news for the country, the OBR is expected to slash its forecast for economic growth.
00:33That would follow similar recent revisions by the Bank of England
00:36and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
00:39However, there was potentially some good news for the Chancellor this morning.
00:43UK inflation eased by more than expected last month, driven by the price of clothing.
00:47CPI inflation fell to 2.8% in February from 3% in January.
00:52Most analysts have been expecting CPI inflation to come in at 2.9% last month
00:57Unfortunately, some experts are saying this morning that the inflation rate is a consequence of a slowing economy.
01:04In other news, house builder Bellway says it's building more homes amid healthy demand from buyers.
01:09Shares in the company lifted yesterday after it told shareholders profits had increased.
01:14The company is among developers to have been boosted by easing mortgage rates
01:18and the Labour government's ambition to build 1.5 million homes.
01:22The London housing market isn't having such a good time though
01:25as stamp duty hangover has struck the capital with demand from homebuyers falling back.
01:30Zoopla estimates that around 8 in 10 first-time buyers in London will pay stamp duty from April
01:36compared with less than half under current thresholds.
01:39And good news in the North West.
01:41Administrators have saved 230 of 251 jobs at national soft furnishings retailer Julian Charles.
01:48FTS Recovery were immediately able to complete a sale to Great Bedding Company Limited.
01:52The jobs were spread across more than 25 trading sites and separate concession sites.
01:57That's all for today. More tomorrow.