UK headroom 'fixation' undermining fiscal rules 'credibility'

Institute for Fiscal Studies finds

Cristian Angeloni
clock • 2 min read

The debate around the UK’s fiscal rules and the appropriate level of headroom required to meet them has contributed to a "dysfunctional policymaking process”.

According to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the UK has become "completely fixated" with the amount of headroom against the government's fiscal rules and their frequent changes have "undermined their credibility". In its From fiscal rules to fiscal traffic lights: rethinking the UK fiscal framework report, the IFS argued the UK's fiscal policy needs a rethink, suggesting fiscal policy would be more efficient if it shifted from pass-fail fiscal rules to a ‘fiscal traffic light' framework. This would be used to monitor performance against high-level fiscal objectives...

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