UK growth forecast lowered in Autumn Budget

Chancellor Phillip Hammond has today delivered the Autumn Budget which included a raft of new measures to aid several key issues facing the UK economy. Most notably, the government is committing £44bn towards housing along with various tactics to encourage new development and a target of 300,000 new homes every year by the mid-2020s. Stamp duty will also be abolished for first time buyers to the value of £300,000. Brexit preparations will receive an extra £3bn, whilst the NHS will see spending increase by £2.8bn to ease pressure. Perhaps the most important announcements were the OBS downgrades to UK growth and deficit reduction. UK growth has been downgraded from 2% to 1.5% in 2017, after which it is expected to fall to 1.4% in 2018, and 1.3% in 2019 and 2020, before rising again. Government borrowing is now forecast to be 2.4% of GDP for 2017, reducing to 1.3% by 2020. Despite the slower deficit reduction plans and economic downgrades, markets have been relatively unfazed.