"It is the duty of the Office to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances"
The Treasury Select Committee has today approved the appointment of Prof. David Miles CBE to the Budget Responsibility Committee, following a hearing before MPs on 15 December. David will formally begin his appointment in January, replacing Prof Sir. Charlie Bean who steps down at the end of this year. We thank Prof Sir Charlie Bean…
The successful vaccine rollout has allowed the economy to reopen largely on schedule, despite continuing high numbers of coronavirus cases. The vaccines’ high degree of effectiveness, combined with consumers’ and businesses’ surprising degree of adaptability to public health restrictions, has meant that output this year has recovered faster than we expected in March, boosting tax…
We will publish our latest Economic and fiscal outlook (EFO) on Wednesday 27 October once the Chancellor has completed his Budget statement in Parliament. The EFO will present our latest forecast for the economy and public finances, which will include all policy measures announced since our previous forecast in March, including in the combined Spending…
Last week HMT launched the recruitment campaign to find Professor Sir Charlie Bean’s successor as the economic expert on the Budget Responsibility Committee. The Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC) takes collective responsibility for the analysis and judgements that underpin the work of the office and consists of three executive members. Executive members are appointed by the…
On 22 June we published a small update to the Welsh taxes outlook based on recent developments in land transaction tax and landfill disposals tax receipts. Ar 22 Mehefin cyhoeddwyd diweddariad bach gennym i ragolygon trethi Cymru yn seiliedig ar ddatblygiadau diweddar mewn derbyniadau treth trafodion tir a derbyniadau treth gwarediadau tirlenwi. Read the Welsh…
On 9 June, OBR Chair Richard Hughes gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Finance Committee on the future role of an independent fiscal council for Northern Ireland. You can read the report on the Northern Ireland Assembly website or watch on NI Assembly TV.
Government borrowing in April 2021 of £31.7 billion was £15.6 billion below last April and £7.3 billion below the profile consistent with our most recent forecast. The shortfall against forecast mostly relates to the timing of payments to the EU. The underlying outperformance is just £1.8 billion. Compared to last April, at the start of…
Every two years the Office for Budget Responsibility produces a report on the fiscal risks facing the UK. Our next Fiscal risks report (FRR) is due to be released this summer. This FRR is being prepared in the wake of the largest fiscal risk to have crystallised in peacetime – the coronavirus pandemic – the economic and fiscal consequences of which continue to be felt. It will therefore…
Since the publication of our March 2021 Economic and fiscal outlook we have received a request for further detail on the ‘state pensions underpayment correction’ measure. We have published this new supplementary forecast information below and on the March 2021 EFO page.
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves MP and OBR Chair Richard Hughes have exchanged letters on the subject of the economic and fiscal implications of EU exit and impact of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on our forecasts. We have published these letters below.