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Hammond to Get Spring Boost With Smallest Deficit in a Decade

  • Watchdog set to raise growth forecast, project lower borrowing
  • Treasury rules out tax and spending moves in Spring Statement
Philip Hammond

Philip Hammond

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Updated on

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is set to receive a much-needed boost when his fiscal watchdog updates its economic forecasts on Tuesday.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to predict faster growth and lower borrowing than it did in November, when a sharp downgrade to the productivity outlook cast serious doubt over Hammond’s target to balance the books by the mid-2020s.