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Britain’s official economic forecaster has told the government that it overestimated the prospects for medium-term growth and that it intends to revise
down its outlook, the Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
UK economic forecaster to downgrade medium-term growth outlook – Times
LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Britain’s official economic
forecaster has told the government that it overestimated the
prospects for medium-term growth and that it intends to revise
down its outlook, the Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said the downgrade would wipe out all of the
government’s 9.2 billion pound ($11.34 billion) headroom in the
public finances and limit the scope for manoeuvre of finance
minister Jeremy Hunt as he draws up a spring budget to be
announced in March.
The Office for Budget Responsibility said in November that
it expected the economy to shrink by 1.4% this year before
returning to 1.3% growth in 2024, 2.6% in 2025 and 2.7% in 2026.
The Times said the OBR intended to reduce its forecasts by
between 0.2% and 0.5%, without giving more details. Britain’s
economy is yet to return to its pre-pandemic size, held back by
inflation above 10% and a tight labour market.
