UK to reduce planned rise in business rates: Hammond

LONDON: Britain will reduce a planned rise in business rates by changing the indexation through which the tax was calculated, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday during his budget speech to parliament.

"I will accept the representation of the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI and other business organisations and bring forward the planned switch from RPI (Retail Price Inflation) to CPI (Consumer Price Index) by two years, to April 2018," he said.

Hammond said the move was worth 2.3 billion pounds ($3 billion) to businesses over the next five years.