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 pandemic delivered one of the largest peacetime shocks to the UK economy in history last year. And that resulted in the largest forecast errors on record. But, as we document in this year’s Forecast evaluation report, it also provided several important lessons about economic and fiscal forecasting as such a large and novel shock…

On 9 December alongside the Forecast evaluation report, we published monthly profiles for receipts, spending and borrowing in 2021-22 consistent with our October 2021 Economic and fiscal outlook, updated ready reckoners and a working paper on how to improve the representation of uncertainty around our central forecasts.    

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has nominated Prof. David Miles CBE, Imperial College London professor and former Monetary Policy Committee member at the Bank of England, to join the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee. If the nomination is approved by the Treasury Select Committee, he would replace Prof. Sir Charlie Bean who finishes his term at…

The independent non-executive directors of the OBR have undertaken a review of the decision-making process around the forecast timetable for the Autumn 2021 Budget to inform the forthcoming review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The previous MoU review in 2017 was confined to government stakeholders involved in the forecast process. In this case, to…

Our latest Forecast evaluation report (FER) will be published at 11am on Thursday 9 December. Our annual FER examines how our forecasts compare to subsequent outturn data and identifies lessons for future forecasts. The pandemic brought about the largest shock to the economy and public finances since the OBR was established. This report will look…

Government borrowing in October 2021 was £18.8 billion, down £0.2 billion from last year. But year to date borrowing of £127.3 billion is down £103.4 billion (44.8 per cent) on the same period last year. This reflects the economic recovery boosting receipts and the lower cost of pandemic-related support schemes, but is partially offset by…

Richard Hughes distils the key messages from our latest Economic and fiscal outlook in his press conference presentation and accompanying speaking note.

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…

A rebounding economy has provided the Chancellor with a Budget windfall that he has added to with tax rises that lift the tax burden to its highest since the early 1950s. He has used these revenues to fund a large increase in public spending, while reducing the budget deficit to pre-pandemic levels, and meeting his…

October 2021 All policy costings presented to the Office for Budget Responsibility at Budget and Spending Review 2021 were scrutinised and were certified as reasonable, central estimates were included in our forecasts. The Government’s Budget and Spending Review 2021 policy costings document briefly describes the methodologies underpinning these costings. In our October 2021 Economic and…

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…

Government borrowing in August 2021 was £20.5 billion, down £5.5 billion from the same month last year. Year to date borrowing of £93.8 billion is now £31.9 billion below our March forecast profile. That reflects both stronger than expected receipts (thanks largely to a faster than expected economic recovery) and lower than expected spending (due…

Government borrowing in July 2021 was £10.4 billion, down £10.1 billion from the same month last year. Year-to-date borrowing of £78.0 billion is now £26.1 billion below our March forecast profile. That reflects both stronger-than-expected receipts (thanks largely to a faster-than-expected economic recovery) and lower-than-expected spending (due to the faster-than-expected unwinding of covid-related government support).

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…