In today's Spring Budget (6th March), chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt outlined the government's economic plans.
In January 2023, the Prime Minister set out three economic priorities — to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt.
At the Spring Budget, the government announced that it is delivering on these priorities — according to the chancellor, inflation has fallen, growth has been more resilient than expected, and debt is forecast to fall.
Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation has now more than halved from a peak of over 11% in Autumn 2022 to 4.2% in the final quarter of last year — more than 0.6 percentage points lower than was forecast in November.
The OBR forecasts inflation to fall to its 2% target in Q2 2024, a year earlier than in its November 2023 forecast.
Government borrowing is forecast to fall in every year, reaching £39.4bn or 1.2% of GDP by 2028-29.
