Michael Smyth, Head of the School of Economics, offers his take on the economic issues that will shape next week's Budget – the first from Conservative Chancellor George Osborne. 

And he addresses the economic and fiscal challenges facing the devolved Government in Northern Ireland, as the pressures of public spending grow. With a local political community more used to spending money than raising it, he tells David Young of the Ulster Press Office he feels we're all in for a bumpy ride when the impact of the new climate of economic austerity climate kicks in.

Click to listen:

http://news.ulster.ac.uk/podcasts/SmythBudget2010.mp3

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