Cameron frustrated by slow economic recovery

But he said yesterday he is planning moves to take advantage of Britain’s record low interest rates for state borrowing to put Government support behind mortgages, house-building and infrastructure projects.

Speaking during a visit to Mexico, Mr Cameron said he wanted to boost exports to the emerging economic giants, but would resist calls to go on a “borrowing and spending spree”.

In a round of broadcast interviews in Mexico City, Mr Cameron said: “I know that people find it immensely frustrating – as I do – that it is such a struggle to recover from what was an appalling financial boom and bust that we suffered, but we have seen some good news this week. We have seen inflation falling – that’s good – and we have seen unemployment falling for a third month in succession.

“We need to have a rebalancing in our economy, where we export more and make more and the private sector grows and we sell to countries like this, one of the fastest growing new countries in the world.

“That is taking place, but I accept that it is frustrating, it is too slow and people want it to go faster and so do I.”

Mr Cameron added: “What we can’t do is go on some spending and borrowing spree. You can’t borrow your way out of debt.

“But what we can do is use the fact that because of the credibility we have got and the record low interest rates, we can make sure we pass those low interest rates on to businesses and homeowners, make sure we go ahead with infrastructure that will help our economy and get houses built in Britain again.”

Mr Cameron held out little hope that this autumn’s 3p rise in fuel duty will be cancelled, saying that “we always look at these things” but adding: “I think people sitting at home know that the Government doesn’t have a bottomless pit of money.”

Projects and deals between British and Mexican firms which were announced yesterday are expected to create hundreds of jobs in the UK.