UK Govt should drop budget surplus promise – Think-tank

Reuters published a report from the UK’s think-tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, urging the UK government to the drop budget surplus promise.

Key Points:

British Chancellor Philip Hammond's aim to run a budget surplus by the mid-2020s risks being thrown off track next month

Assumptions about long-run growth may be too optimistic

Despite borrowing falling to a 10-year low last month, Hammond could need to find more than 50 billion pounds ($66 billion) a year in extra savings by 2021 if he wants to stick to plans he set out in March to cut the budget deficit .... "It is perhaps time to admit that a firm commitment to running a budget surplus from the mid-2020s onwards is no longer sensible"