Read the latest insights on the public finances, including the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on public finances in the UK and around the world. Find out more about tax and other income, public spending, public assets and public liabilities including debt, and what governments can do to develop an effective long-term fiscal strategy to ensure the sustainability of public finances.
The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee has highlighted worries about the supply of credit for small business lending in the current volatile economic climate - are we seeing a tightening of credit conditions?
The Spending Review and Autumn Budget will mark the first step in the Chancellor’s plan to bring the public finances back under control following the pandemic. There are significant challenges to be overcome if he wants to do so.
Upward revisions to GDP bring the debt-to-GDP ratio down to 95.5%, but the Chancellor has a difficult Spending Review and Autumn Budget ahead as spending pressures mount.
Our chart this week looks at the core departmental resource budgets that are central to next Wednesday’s long-awaited Spending Review.
It has been quite a year for local authorities as their finances, accounts and audit arrangements have all been put to the test.
26 November 2020: The Office for Budget Responsibility presented its latest economic and fiscal forecasts to accompany yesterday’s Spending Review. As expected, the forecasts were far from pretty.
25 November 2020: The long-awaited National Infrastructure Strategy and the government’s response to the National Infrastructure Assessment were finally published yesterday alongside the Spending Review.
24 November 2020: Major fiscal events can be confusing for those not familiar with the public finances – this brief explainer may help.
16 November 2020: Alison Ring, ICAEW’s director for public sector, has written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury ahead of the Spending Review to stress the importance of investment in infrastructure, data and financial management.
17 September: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her first set-piece ‘State of the European Union’ speech yesterday to outline her vision for the coming years and make several ambitious policy announcements. Susanna Di Feliciantonio, ICAEW Head of European Affairs, reviews the key points.
20 November 2020: The #icaewchartoftheweek takes a look at the Irish Government’s fiscal plans for 2021 and how it plans to tackle the twin headwinds of COVID and Brexit.
30 October 2020: The US federal government spent $3.1tn more than it received in the year to 30 September 2020, more than three times the $1.0tn deficit incurred in 2019.
Huge economic shock combined with unprecedented fiscal interventions are driving a global and UK fiscal crisis. ICAEW analyses the effect of coronavirus on public finances around the world and on the UK’s public finances in particular.
ICAEW welcomes the publication of the Whole of Government Accounts for 2018-19, the UK Government’s annual financial report for the year ended 31 March 2019.
On 18 July 2019, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its second fiscal risks report. The fiscal risks report provides an analysis of the economic and policy risks facing the public finances, including a ‘fiscal stress test’, setting out how the fiscal numbers might react to a no-deal Brexit.
Our General Election 2019 Fiscal Insight analyses the manifesto proposals of the Conservatives, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.
A response dated 5 June 2019 to a consultation published by HMT on 13 March 2019.
A collection of independent essays and an ICAEW/PwC call for EU reform.
Synopsis of the Global Financial Stability and Public Debt.
This survey provides a unique picture of the views of 10,000 Europeans on intergenerational fairness.