The extraordinary recent growth of China's manufacturing industries has been sucking in raw materials, such as copper, and driving up prices in the commodity markets. It is the Chinese, you see. Geoffrey Dicks and Ross Walker at Royal Bank of Scotland, said it would take much for the MPC to "gel" behind an increase."As two of the 'form hawks' were with the majority, it would be a brave economist who would argue rates are not going up in November - and we are cowards," they said.. The Treasury pointed out the UK has the lowest stock of net debt in the G7 and said current forecasts of 3 per cent of GDP compared with 8 per cent under the last Tory government.And there was good news for the Treasury as the survey showed that, for the first time since the Budget, City economists believe Mr Brown will hit his growth forecasts this year. The average forecast for GDP growth rose to 2.0 per cent, at the bottom of the Treasury's range. However, only two economists believe he will hit his forecast for growth of 3.0 and 3.5 per cent in 2004.. The Bank of England came within a whisker of ordering its first rise in interest rates in more than three years earlier this month, it emerged yesterday.

The average forecast is for a £33.1bn shortfall.In the following financial year beginning next April, when Mr Brown believes the deficit will fall to £24bn, independent economists believe the shortfall will actually increase to £35bn.The gloomiest forecast, from Bank of America, was a £47bn deficit - equivalent to 4.4 per cent of GDP, putting the UK in breach of the 3 per cent limit in the Maastricht treaty.Michael Howard, the shadow chancellor, said Mr Brown would have to revise his forecasts for a third time in the forthcoming pre-Budget report. Gordon Brown's tax and spending plans received a blow yesterday as it emerged that the City of London had unanimously rejected his borrowing figures. The Treasury's monthly survey of City economists showed none now believes he can hit his optimistic targets for public sector debt this year and next.All 29 said he would need to borrow more than the £27bn the Chancellor forecast in the April Budget, with some warning the shortfall could rise as high as £38bn. While the French business posted a £20.8m loss in the third quarter, pre-tax profits at the main UK business rose to £20m, compared with a profit of £9.4m a year earlier.Egg, which is 79 per cent-owned by UK insurer Prudential Plc, added €140m of spending to its French budget in April, taking expected investment to about €300m. Gratton said at the time there was no threat to expansion plans in France or the investment being made there.. However, the bank said it would not carry on investing in the French market indefinitely and said it did not want to pour more than £300m into the project.Egg's partial capitulation over its ambitions in France is a blow for the business, which had huge ambitions to export its successful British format around the world. It is disbanding the international team in Britain with the loss of about 70 jobs. The bank employs about 2,000 people in the UK."They rather charged into it when they went in [to France]," said Alan Harris, a fund manager at Charles Stanley.

Balances on its cards nearly doubled to €126m from the previous quarter and it issued 16,000 cards in the three months to the end of September - including the quiet August period when many people go on summer holidays - compared with 14,000 cards over the two previous quarters. "It's a question of salvaging what they can from the wreckage."However, Egg could point to strong growth in the UK, where it now has more than 3 million customers. Egg yesterday announced it was in talks with several potential partners to share the pain of its investment in France, which has cost the UK internet and telephone bank €173m (£120m) in a year and a half. Egg made it clear that if the talks - which are with several parties from a number of countries - fail, the business would be sold. Paul Gratton, the chief executive of Egg, set a deadline of the end of December for talks, which are thought to be at an early stage, to be concluded. There had been mounting speculation Egg would cut its losses completely on its foray into France, which dragged the group to a £24.6m loss in the nine months to 30 September, from £3.9m at the same time last year.