The economy will expand at a much faster rate than expected this year while government borrowing will be much lower, according to the Treasury’s budget watchdog. It warned, though, that such good fortune was unlikely to last.
The Office for Budget Responsibility said that shoppers who largely shrugged off the impact of the Brexit vote were behind the higher than expected growth.
“The economy ended 2016 with greater momentum than we expected, thanks to the great British consumer,” Robert Chote, its chairman, said.
This impact of strong consumer spending in the second half of last year led to growth forecasts for this year being revised up from 1.4 per cent to 2 per cent. This puts the forecast in line with the Bank of England,