<p>No Chancellor would wish to publish a forecast showing that the government will need to borrow £178 billion this year. But when you consider that the economy has shrunk more in recent months than he hoped at Budget time, an increase in the forecast deficit of just £3 billion since then actually looks like good news.</p>
Authors
Carl Emmerson
Carl, a Deputy Director, is an editor of the IFS Green Budget, is expert on the UK pension system and sits on the Social Security Advisory Committee.
Mike Brewer
Robert Chote
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