December 07, 2006	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1427

LONDON, Dec 6: Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown unveiled a series of measures aimed at tackling global warming and raised his forecast for British economic growth in a key budget speech delivered on Wednesday.

Brown, seen as favourite to replace Tony Blair as prime minister next year, doubled air passenger duty and ended a freeze on fuel tax for motorists in his tenth pre-budget report -- a curtain-raiser to Britain's official 2007-08 budget due in March.

In a speech lasting about 40 minutes, Brown said Britain's economy was set to grow by 2.75 per cent this year compared with his previous estimate of 2-2.5 per cent made in March. Analysts had forecast that Brown would hike his forecast to only 2.6 per cent.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown added that gross domestic product would grow by 2.75-3.25 per cent during 2007, unchanged from his previous estimate.

—AFP