U.K. Watchdog to Issue Minor Update of Budget Forecast March 13

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. fiscal watchdog is to issue a rapid update of its March 11 budget projections to fulfill a legal requirement that it produces two forecasts each fiscal year.

The cancellation of the budget late last year because of the general election means that the Office for Budget Responsibility has yet to produce a forecast in 2019-20, with little more than a month of the fiscal year remaining.

On Thursday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak accepted a proposal made by OBR Chairman Robert Chote that a “limited update” is published on March 13, two days after the budget.

Chote said in a letter to Sunak that the update could tie up “loose ends,” particularly relating to debt interest and cash borrowing. That would allow it incorporate modeling from the Debt Management Office that may be needed should the budget significantly raise the amount of bonds the Treasury needs to issue. It will include no new data or market developments.

Responding, Sunak said the proposal would avoid the risk of diverting OBR resources ahead of the budget and compromising the quality of its work.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Lucy Meakin

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.