UK's Kwarteng Heads For Washington Under Pressure From IMF

• British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng, fresh from sowing turmoil in financial markets with a plan for big tax cuts, heads to Washington this week with International Monetary Fund criticisms of his new policy direction ringing in his ears.
• Kwarteng is due to attend the IMF's semi-annual meeting of global policymakers for the first time since being put in charge of Britain's economy by Prime Minister Liz Truss and tasked with delivering on her promises of ending policy-making "orthodoxy".
• On Sept. 23, Kwarteng made his first fiscal announcement including a controversial plan to scrap Britain's top income tax rate for the highest earners, part of a package of measures he said would speed up sluggish economic growth.
• But the IMF took the rare step of criticising the proposals, saying they could worsen inequality and work at cross-purposes with the Bank of England's drive to tame surging inflation which is the highest among the Group of Seven rich nations.
• In a nod to concerns about the impact of his plans on Britain's public finances, Kwarteng announced on Monday he was bringing forward the date for announcing his medium-term budget plans and independent forecasts on how much they would cost.
• BoE Governor Andrew Bailey is also due to attend the IMF meetings this week, from where he will watch how investors react to the central bank's newly expanded measures to calm financial markets after the turmoil sparked by Kwarteng last month.

(Source: Reuters)