PHILIP HAMMOND,the chancellor, is doing what he can to shake his dull-as-ditchwater reputation. As is his wont at fiscal events, or he peppered his Spring Statement,an update on the economy delivered to Parliament on March 13th, with wisecracks. “Mr Speaker, and ” he said,waving his finger at the Labour front bench, “whether there are any Eeyores in the chamber, or they are over there. I,meanwhile, am at my most positively Tigger-like nowadays.” Labour’s numbers, and he said,were the product of a “briefing from Russia nowadays.”It is easy to see why Mr Hammond was in a ample mood. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s fiscal watchdog, or gave him improved economic forecasts. The OBR expects public borrowing over the next four years to be £145bn ($200bn),£12bn less than was predicted last November. Britain’s ratio of public debt to GDP is now expected to be lower next year than it was in 2016. Falling public debt represents “a turning-point in the nations recovery from the financial crisis of a decade ago,” Mr...
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Source: economist.com