John Hawksworth analyses the likely economic impact of the Budget
At the time of last year’s Budget in March 2013 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was expecting UK GDP growth to be only 0.6% in 2013.
By December this had been revised up to 1.4% and is now 1.8% not far below its historic trend rate.
A calming of the Eurozone crisis and a revival in the UK housing market have contributed to a recovery in consumer spending over the past 18 months although this has relied so far on a falling household savings ratio rather than an upturn in real incomes.
The OBR is projecting growth to pick up further to 2.7% in 2014 before moderating to 2.3% in 2015 as consumer spending comes to rely more on real...
