Portrait of the week | 19 June 2010

The Office for Budget Responsibil-ity (OBR) forecast that gross domestic product would grow by 2.6 per cent in 2011, compared with the 3.25 per cent predicted by the previous government. But the deficit and inflation would nonetheless fall faster than predicted. ‘This is our best shot at an impossible task,’ said Sir Alan Budd, the head of the OBR. The government is to make an emergency Budget on 22 June. The OBR also said that the cost to the taxpayer of public sector pensions will rise from £4 billion a year now to £9 billion by 2014-15. Mr Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister said: ‘It’s not affordable.’ The annual rate of inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index fell to 3.4 in May from 3.7 per cent in April; the rate measured by the Retail Prices Index fell to 5.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent. Unemployment rose by 23,000 to 2.47