End of pre-Budget report
Britain will publish economic forecasts and a fiscal statement later this year, the Treasury said yesterday, but the event is expected to be narrower in scope than usual and is unlikely to change the policy outlook.
The statement is also unlikely to fall on the same day as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s spending review – due on 20 October – which will detail the cuts each department will have to absorb over the next four years.
The government is required by law to present two forecasts each year. The spring annual Budget accompanies one, while under the previous Labour administration a substantial pre-Budget report followed in the autumn months. The coalition, which came to power in May after 13 years of Labour rule, delivered an emergency Budget in June which outlined fiscal policy until 2015, in particular how a record Budget deficit of around 11 per cent would be cut.
A replacement for interim Office for Budget Responsibility chairman Alan Budd is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.