UK's budget office sees little impact on growth from Hammond plan

LONDON: Measures announced by British finance minister Philip Hammond on Wednesday in the government's first budget plans since the Brexit vote in June are likely to add only 0.1 percentage point to economic growth next year, Britain's budget office said.

"The government has eased the pace at which fiscal policy will be tightened," the Office for Budget Responsibility said in a report on the Autumn Statement.

"Relative to the path of consolidation underpinning our March forecast, it has loosened policy between 2017-18 and 2020-21, largely reflecting increases in capital spending.

This has small effects on the profile of real GDP growth, adding 0.1 percentage points in 2017-18 and subtracting less than 0.1 percentage points a year thereafter."