Pensions and healthcare put UK at ‘extreme risk’

The UK is at "extreme risk" of another financial crisis and is one the top 10 of countries most likely to go bankrupt according to risk analysts Maplecroft's annual Fiscal Risk Index.

The costs of providing pensions and healthcare for an ageing population are the reasons for the country coming 10th out of 163 countries in the survey.

The UK's public debt levels are expected to hit 70 per cent of GDP by 2013 and according to Maplecroft that means that the problem of an ageing population could have "a more profound impact and sooner".

The International Monetary Fund has already estimated that the fiscal implications of ageing populations would be almost 10 times the cost of the financial crisis.

And last November the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted that without reform public debt could rise to 100 per cent of GDP within 40 years.

The news takes the gloss off figures from the Office for National Statistics that the Treasury raised £3.7bn more in taxes than it spent in January, its biggest monthly surplus since 2008.

Read a full report in the Telegraph. ·