Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling scaled back his estimate for the cost of bailing out Britain’s banks to 6 billion pounds ($9 billion) from 10 billion pounds, the second revision since December.
The Treasury said in its annual budget document published in London yesterday that the reduction was the result of “changes in market prices.”
The estimate is also based on the government’s expected profit from a program to insure banks’ toxic assets. Darling said in his budget last year the cost would be as much as 50 billion pounds.
Full story: U.K. Scales Back Bank Bailout Cost Estimate to 6 Billion Pounds – BusinessWeek