Yahoo Finance Pound wavers as Jeremy Hunt unveils raft of tax cuts in autumn statement
The pound fell slightly against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) and euro (GBPEUR=X) on Wednesday as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled a raft of new policies meant to bolster the economy in the government's autumn statement.
Alongside tax cuts for workers, and tighter restrictions on benefits, the statement, read to the House of Commons, also laid out changes to pensions and alcohol duty.
The national insurance change represents a cut for 27 million workers across the UK, and and extended a break for businesses as part of his Autumn Statement.
The two percentage point cut from 12% to 10% in NI contributions will be brought in from 6 January.
He also scrapped Class 2 National Insurance to simplify the tax system for the self-employed. Class 4 National Insurance is also set be cut by one percentage point to 8% from April. These measures combined will save self-employed workers £350, and almost two million people will benefit from the move.
Sterling dipped from highs of about 1.15 euro shortly before the statement was delivered, to about 1.148 after.
The pound was also down slightly against the US dollar, from $1.255 before the announcement, to $1.2525 after.
Read more: National insurance rate to be slashed by 2%, Jeremy Hunt announces
“As far as sterling goes, last week’s inflation rate drop gave reason to see weakness in the pound," said Mike Owens, senior sales trader at investment platform Saxo. "Versus the US dollar, the pound remains supported which illustrates how dominant the macro-US outlook is."
Policies which laid out significant boosts to the domestic economy, such as planned investment would have supported the pound further.
