British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he believes Britain will keep its AAA top credit rating, as he announced a pay freeze for senior civil servants and military officers to help control a record deficit.
Setting out his economic plans weeks before an election, Brown said recovery remained fragile and that to change course now would risk plunging Britain back into recession.
His message contrasted with that of opposition Conservative leader David Cameron, who is campaigning on a 'time for change' slogan and wants to make a quicker start on cutting a deficit forecast to exceed 12% of GDP this year.
In a speech at Thomson Reuters in London, Brown said cuts should come only once recovery was assured. But he urged markets to take heart from a government commitment to halve the deficit over four years.
Brown's finance minister Alistair Darling will deliver a final budget on March 24 before an election expected on May 6. To show he was serious on tackling the deficit, Brown announced a wage freeze for highest paid public sector staff.
Meanwhile, official figures show that British manufacturing output sank by 0.9% in January from December, denting hopes of a speedy economic recovery.
But the Office for National Statistics said output in December rose by 0.2% from the same month a year earlier, the first annual increase since March 2008.
The ONS also revealed that a wider measure of industrial production, which includes mining, quarrying and energy, decreased by 0.4% in January from December.
Britain emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 with growth of 0.3% - which ended a record recession that had lasted for six quarters.
