Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday promised to spend 5 billion pounds (or 6.15 billion dollars) on infrastructure projects to kick-start Britain’s economic recovery.
According to him, the plan is to help the country through the expected severe economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic as well as Britain leaving the EU.
“The spending programme will also tackle Britain’s great unresolved challenges of the last three decades.
“To this end, we will build, build and build. Build back better, build back greener, build back faster and to do that at the pace that this moment requires,”he said.
The plan includes: an extra 1 billion pounds for school construction over the next two years; 1.5 billion pounds for hospital maintenance and other health infrastructure; plus spending on courts, prisons, roads, bridges and local high streets.
READ ALSO: British Prime Minister Johnson due to announce easing of lockdown
“If we deliver this plan together, then we will together build our way back to health.
“We will not just bounce back, we will bounce forward, stronger and better and more united than ever before,” Johnson said.
Earlier, in an interview with Times Radio, Johnson said he expected “bumpy times” ahead for the British economy.
The Resolution Foundation, a London-based think-tank, said Britain needed its biggest job creation programme in peacetime to respond to an expected surge in unemployment.
Manufacturers’ group, Make UK, said British firms were unlikely to recover to their Pre COVID-19 growth track until at least 2022.
