HM Treasury has announced that Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng has brought forward the date for when he will publish his economic and fiscal forecast, along with the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan, by almost a month.
In a letter addressed to Rt Hon Mel Stride, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Kwarteng confirmed that the date for his announcement has been brought forward from the original date of the 23rd November, to the 31st October.
Kwarteng wrote:
“The new forecast date on 31 October will allow the OBR to capture data releases, such as the recent Quarterly National Accounts and Blue Book revisions. It will allow for a full forecast process to take place to a standard that satisfies the legal requirements of the Charter for Budget Responsibility enacted by Parliament and that also provide an in-depth assessment of the economy and public finances. And it will provide time for the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan to be finalised. In the meantime, the Prime Minister and I met with the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee on Friday 30 September to discuss the economic and fiscal outlook, and we continue to work closely together throughout the forecast process and beyond.”
This statement is likely to cover the how the Chancellor is planning on covering the £43 billion worth of tax cuts that he announced in the mini-budget in September, whilst a forecast will also be published that will detail how the economy is going to perform over the course of the coming years.
