The head of the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has indicated that he believes the Chancellor, George Osborne, will miss his 1.7 per cent growth target for the year.
In an interview with the Independent, Robert Chote said:
Back in March our central forecast was for 1.7 per cent growth this year, which at the time was fractionally more pessimistic than the average of the outside forecasters.
Since then obviously we’ve had weaker out-turns in the first and second quarters than most people, including us, anticipated. For the second quarter the ONS [Office for National Statistics] explained a variety of one-off factors that contributed to that.
As a simple matter of arithmetic, in order to get to 1.7 per cent now you’d be looking for quarter-on-quarter growth rates of 1 per cent in the second and third quarters of 2011, and there aren’t many people out there expecting that.
Chote’s comments will add to the pressure on Osborne, amid dismal official figures that show the economy flatlining. And he is not the first to question the 1.7 per cent figure. Earlier this week, the IMF cut Britain’s growth forecast from 1.7 to 1.5 per cent, warning that the UK faces a “bumpy and uneven” recovery. This week, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research warned that “in the short-term, fiscal policy is too tight, and a modest loosening would improve prospects for output and employment with little or no negative effect on fiscal credibility”.
The OBR will not produce a new forecast until later in the year, when the Chancellor gives his autumn statement. However, Chote’s remarks indicate that he is keen to show that the OBR is not out of touch with developments in the economy. As voices across the political spectrum continue to voice concern about economic recovery — the slowest in a century — the Chancellor must show he is listening. Even the IMF, which broadly backs the austerity measures, warned that the government must be willing to respond if growth and inflation do not develop as planned.
Chote did not rule out the possibility of a “bounce back”, saying “there are potential pressures in both directions”. However, if this does not happen, as looks likely, Osborne must work on that ever-elusive “plan for growth”. At the moment, one would be forgiven for thinking it does not exist.
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