Our chart this week looks at the fiscal forecast for the final quarter of the government’s financial year ending in March 2022.

December’s deficit of £16.8bn saw both a rise in tax revenues and in interest on inflation-linked debt as pressure grows on the Chancellor to address energy price hikes and rising prices in the shops.

Our chart this week is about domestic energy prices and the Ofgem energy price cap rises expected in April and October 2022.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies reports that local authority finances are faring better than predicted – however, topline numbers mask significant variations, with smaller councils bearing the brunt of spending increases.

Our chart this week is based on the latest population projections for the UK, with an expected 67% increase in the number of people over the age of 75 and a fall in the number under the age of 25 over the next quarter of a century.

ICAEW’s public sector team examines the public sector sustainability reporting landscape in the UK, outlining key developments in both the private and public sectors.

An overhaul of the EU’s fiscal framework is underway as the European Union looks to adapt its economic governance rules to post-pandemic life, in what is likely to lead to some of this year’s most significant and politically-charged debates.

Our first chart of 2022 highlights how the cost of government borrowing remains extremely low for most of the 21 largest economies in the world, despite the huge expansion in public debt driven by the pandemic.