UK Deficit Likely to Fall

British Finance Minister Philip Hammond appears to be on track to meet his target of improving the country’s weak public finances this year, potentially giving him a bit of room to ease the squeeze on spending in a budget plan next month, Reuters reported. Tax revenues flowed strongly into the government’s coffers, data for January showed, prompting Britain’s official budget forecasters to say the deficit was likely to come in well below the level they had previously predicted. The data will be a relief for Hammond, who faces the task of bringing down one of the biggest budget deficits among the world’s advanced economies.