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Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has admitted he has been “affected” by his own mini-budget which was blamed for creating economic turmoil while Liz Truss was prime minister.

Mr Kwarteng, who was sacked by Ms Truss after just 38 days in the job, said his own mortgage repayments had “gone up considerably”.

However, he denied he was to blame for the wider economic situation and rising interest rates, which he said falls under the responsibility of the Bank of England.

Speaking to GB News’s Camilla Tominey, Mr Kwarteng was asked whether he had any sympathy with those facing higher mortgage costs.

“Of course I do”, he replied.

“I’m probably revealing too much: I’m on a tracker, so I’m affected as well. They’ve gone up considerably.”

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‘I’m cutting everything out just to survive’

Asked whether he had been “screwed by your own mini-budget?”, he replied: “No, not at all because Camilla we are mixing two things.”

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He added: “The Bank of England was in charge of inflation and my tracker rate and other people’s tracker rates will be linked to the Bank rate, and whatever margin you have to pay.

“And the reason why interest rates have gone up very high is because we’ve totally missed the goal on inflation, we’ve totally misjudged inflation.”

Asked how much his mortgage bill had gone up by, Mr Kwarteng said: “A lot. We bought the house in 2021 so it’s gone up quite a bit since then.

“I’m just as exposed to interest rates as anyone else.”

In his mini-budget on 23 September, Mr Kwarteng unveiled £45bn in unfunded tax cuts and the promise to abolish the 45p top rate of tax.

The mini-budget, otherwise known as the “fiscal event”, triggered turbulence in the financial markets, sent the pound tumbling and led to an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England stop pension funds collapsing and pushing mortgage rates up.

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Inflation should ‘fall over the coming months’

Mortgage costs increased significantly following the turmoil of the mini-budget, while lenders pulled a record number of mortgages in a single day the following week.

Last month, fixed mortgage rates rose again after a brief fall, according to financial information company Moneyfacts.

Read more:
The squeeze on renters is a symptom of Britain’s housing crisis of supply and affordability
Wilko: 12,000 jobs at risk as UK retail chain on brink of collapse

Meanwhile, the Bank of England raised interest rates for the 14th successive time on Thursday, lifting its official rate to 5.25%.

The quarter percentage point increase was smaller than some economists had expected, following the release of lower-than-anticipated inflation data last month.

Inflation currently stands at 7.9%.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey defended the interest rate hike on the grounds it was necessary to bring inflation down to its 2% target.

“We know that inflation hits the least well off hardest and we need to make absolutely sure that it falls all the way back to the 2% target. That’s why we’ve raised rates to 5.25% today,” he said.

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Marshall Islands launches universal basic income program using digital wallet

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Marshall Islands launches universal basic income program using digital wallet

The Republic of the Marshall Islands announced that it would allow citizens to access funds through a government-issued digital asset as part of the nation’s Universal Basic Income (UBI) program.

In a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the government of the island nation said it had launched a digital wallet called Lomalo, which will utilize the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDM1 to enable citizens to access the UBI program. According to the government, the first disbursement of funds will occur in late November, allowing citizens to access them through their wallet, by physical check, or via direct deposit.

“By introducing a secure digital option alongside our traditional methods, we are strengthening our financial systems and ensuring that no community is left behind,” said David Paul, finance minister for the Marshall Islands. 

Neighboring Pacific island nations have rolled out similar programs over the years, including Palau’s stablecoin on the XRP Ledger for government employees, and the central bank of the Solomon Islands’ Bokolo Cash for peer-to-peer transactions and retail payments in the nation’s capital, Honiara.

Related: From islands to highways: How blockchain interoperability is finally catching up

“Citizens will be able to transfer to other registered Lomalo users,” a spokesperson for the Marshall Islands’ finance minister told Cointelegraph. “Right now, only citizens registered for the UBI can set up a wallet.”

Warnings from the IMF on the Marshall Islands utilizing digital assets

The launch of the digital wallet as part of the islands’ UBI program followed warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2023, the group urged the government of the Marshall Islands to reconsider its central bank digital currency program, then known as SOV. 

“Progress on rolling back past digital initiatives is welcome,” said the IMF in a Sept. 10 notice. “Current plans to issue a ‘digital sovereign bond’ carry significant risks relative to perceived returns, which cannot be effectively mitigated given lack of pre-requisite capacity. Thus, in the mission’s view, the authorities should not proceed with the global launch as planned.”

The IMF said that the expansion of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which the Marshall Islands began recognizing as legal entities in 2022, and the launch of the UBI program using the “untested” USDM1 could have “adverse macro-fiscal and financial integrity implications.” The fund urged the government to scale back the UBI program to a “more targeted scheme to those who need it the most.”