London - Britain's corporation tax will rise to 25% this April, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday, after Prime Minister Liz Truss sacked finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng as her government u-turns on economic policy.

The rise to the tax scraps Kwarteng's plan to freeze it at 19%, announced in his Sept. 23 "mini-budget", which has now cost him his job.

Prime Minister Liz Truss is due to hold a press conference at 1300 GMT at which time she is expected to go ahead with the rise to the tax to try to calm financial markets after weeks of turmoil.

British companies are relaxed about a rise to corporation tax, with many saying that political and economic stability is more important to their ability to make decisions and do business.

The government's 45 billion pound ($50 billion) unfunded tax-cutting programme has battered the pound and forced the Bank of England to intervene to stabilise markets.

Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said that the corporation tax freeze was not something the IoD had requested.

"It wasn't on the list at all," Ussher said.

She said that recent political upheaval plus the surge in inflation was weighing on the investment plans of the mid-sized firms that make up the bulk of the IoD's membership.

Abandoning the corporation tax freeze will boost the public finances by almost 19 billion pounds ($21 billion), going some way to calming markets by showing that the government has a credible fiscal plan.

Earlier this month, Kwarteng's cut to the highest rate of income tax, another plank of his economic programme, was reversed, saving another 2 billion pounds.

($1 = 0.8933 pounds)

(Reporting by William James, writing by Muvija M and Sarah Young, additional reporting by William Schomberg, editing by James Davey)