–First Independent Forecasts To Be Published Before Emergency Budget
LONDON (MNI) – UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne set
out Monday plans for an independent body to take control of the official
fiscal and economic forecasts, and he pledged its first projections
would be released before the upcoming emergency Budget.
Osborne unveiled the new Office for Budget Responsibility, which
will be headed by former founding Monetary Policy Committee member Alan
Budd.
“The public should be able to trust official forecasts for the
economy. I want independent forecasts to become the norm,” Osborne said.
Osborne said the OBR was being created “to remove the temptation to
fiddle the figures by giving up control of the economic and fiscal
forecasts.”
“The OBR will initially operate on a non-statutory basis,” Osborne
said, as he wants it to get to work before parliamentary legislation
formally endorsing it is passed.
Budd will be joined by Geoffery Dicks, a former Royal Bank of
Scotland economist, and Graham Parker and these three “will form the
Budget Responsibility Committee,” Osborne said.
“I don’t think we can wait for the Budget for an independent
assessment of the true state of the public finances. The first of the
OBR’s forecasts will be published ahead of the Budget,” Osborne said.
–London newsroom: 4420 7862 7491 email: drobinson@marketnews.com
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