Economic Insight

This month we review what might be the penultimate fiscal event of this parliament, the latest deliberation from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and provide a preview of UK Finance’s new Buy-to-Let data dashboard.

Ahead of the March 6th Budget there has been good news and bad news – the news on the public finances was better than expected. But first estimates of the UK economy’s performance at the end of 2023 prompted headlines announcing recession. We’ll look at the detail, how sectors have performed since the pandemic, and how the UK stacks up internationally.

January has been a busy month for economic news, bringing more insight on consumer behaviour over the key Christmas period, what appeared to be a surprise increase in inflation, as well as significant international developments and the latest decision from the Monetary Policy Committee. This month’s briefing trots through some of the many headlines.

This month we jump on the January bandwagon with a look ahead to some of the key economic and policy developments in the year ahead. We’ll focus on the indicators that we’ll be keeping a particularly close eye on – both in the official statistics and in our own data sources.

The main economic news in November was the government’s autumn statement and accompanying forecast update from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – this month’s briefing will dig into the headlines. ICYMI productivity week has just passed, so we’ll take a top level look at why it matters.

It’s autumn statement time again. This month’s briefing takes a look at the current state of the public finances and some of the macroeconomic developments that will play into the accompanying OBR forecast update. In addition, we’ll take a look at some of the better-than-expected data from the US and China.