NAO approves new government financial forecasts

THE NAO HAS given its official seal of approval to financial forecasts underlying the budget in the last such report it will produce following the creation of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

A report found: “The key economic and fiscal assumptions underpinning the OBR’s forecasts have been independently arrived at.”

The NAO was required to examine budget assumptions underlying fiscal projections from the Treasury – a duty that will end when the legislation setting up the OBR is passed.

Its final report said: “We are content that the current scope of the OBR does not negatively impact on its ability to arrive independently at the key economic and fiscal assumptions and that there is positive evidence of OBR having full discretion over its scope and forecast judgments.”