Their Conservative Party has lost public support over last month's budget, which voters say helped the rich at the expense of pensioners and charities, and the handling of a threatened strike by tanker-truck drivers. The Labour opposition led the Tories by 41 percent to 33 percent in an ICM Ltd. poll published yesterday.

In addition to the domestic budget squeeze, Britain's recovery is being hampered by unfavorable export conditions.

Euro-area services and manufacturing output declined for a third month in April as the economy struggled to rebound from a fourth-quarter contraction, according to a report on April 23. Confidence among executives and consumers in the economic outlook in the region fell this month, economists in a Bloomberg survey said before data tomorrow.

The economy may get little further help from the Bank of England, whose officials have suggested inflation may retreat less quickly than they forecast two months ago. Only Miles on the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee sought an expansion in emergency stimulus this month. He said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg News that voting for more bond purchases was "still the right strategy."

In Asia, all 14 economists in a Bloomberg News survey predict additional easing when the Bank of Japan releases new inflation forecasts on April 27. Most expect an increase ranging from 5 trillion yen ($62 billion) to 10 trillion yen.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will release its policy statement at around 12:30 p.m. today in Washington, and its forecasts for interest rates, growth, inflation and unemployment at 2 p.m. Policy makers will probably repeat their plan to keep the benchmark rate low at least through late 2014, economists say.

 

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