Following a meeting with Prime Minister Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed it will deliver an initial forecast to the chancellor on 7 October which “will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies”.
The OBR said its budget responsibility committee had met with the prime minister and the chancellor this morning.
“We discussed the economic and fiscal outlook and the forecast we are preparing for the chancellor’s medium-term fiscal plan.
“We will deliver the first iteration of that forecast to the chancellor on Friday 7 October and will set out the full timetable up to 23 November next week. The forecast will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies.”
The pound has edged higher, ahead of a meeting between Liz Truss and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, with the head of the Britain’s independent fiscal watchdog on Friday, after days of financial market turmoil triggered by the government’s package of unfunded tax cuts.
After briefly dipping into negative territory, sterling has extended gains and hit a fresh one-week high, of $1.1235, up 1% on the day. Trading is volatile, though, and it is now at $1.1193, a 0.7% gain.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, says: “Though it really does not change anything, it does mean the economy is suddenly on a sounder footing and may not be in a technical recession.”
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