Other news

Forecasts in-depth

As part of our ongoing goal to increase the transparency and accessibility of information, we have launched a new area of our website: Forecasts in-depth. Over time, we will collate and publish a wealth of material to this new area on each part of our economic and fiscal forecasts.

Supplementary forecast information release

Since the publication of our November 2016 Economic and fiscal outlook we have received a request to publish the receipts and spending breakdowns of the alternative decomposition of changes in borrowing and a breakdown of changes in the oil and gas revenues forecast. We have published this new supplementary forecast information on the main EFO…

Supplementary forecast information release

Since the publication of our November 2016 Devolved taxes we have received a request to publish further detail of our forecasts. We have published this new supplementary forecast information on the main EFO page of our website.

Overview of the November 2016 Economic and fiscal outlook

The Government is no longer on course to balance the budget during the current Parliament and has formally dropped this ambition in a significant loosening of its fiscal targets. Public sector net borrowing is now expected to fall more slowly than we forecast in March, primarily reflecting weak tax receipts so far this year and…

Autumn Statement 2016: fiscal targets relaxed to allow modest giveaway

The Chancellor has relaxed his fiscal targets to make space for a modest infrastructure spending giveaway over the next five years. A weaker outlook for the economy and tax revenues – and these new spending commitments – mean that the budget is no longer expected to return to surplus in this Parliament, with a £21…

Policy costings document November 2016

November 2016 All policy costings presented to the Office for Budget Responsibility at Autumn Statement 2016 were scrutinised and were certified as reasonable, central estimates were included in our forecasts. The Government’s Autumn Statement 2016 policy costings document briefly describes the methodologies underpinning these costings. In our November 2016 Economic and fiscal outlook we have published…

Front cover of IMF paper

IMF praises OBR in transparency review

The depth and breadth of the economic and fiscal analysis published by the OBR “can be considered as best-practice, and could be used as a benchmark by other advanced countries”, according to the International Monetary Fund’s Fiscal Transparency Evaluation for the UK. “While it is still relatively early in its track record, the OBR’s forecasting…

Welfare reforms save less than expected

Straightforward cuts in the generosity of benefits and tax credits are proving more reliable ways to cut the welfare budget than complex structural reforms to incapacity and disability benefits.

Welfare reforms save less than expected

Straightforward cuts in the generosity of benefits and tax credits are proving more reliable ways to cut the welfare budget than complex structural reforms to incapacity and disability benefits. Read more in our latest Welfare trends report.