Ten things you need to know about the IFS Green Budget

An exciting day for policy freaks and numbers geeks: the Institute for Fiscal Studies has released its latest Green Budget, an annual survey of the state of the public finances. But if you can’t face wading through the complete 329-page document, here’s our quick ten-point summary of its main conclusions:

1) IFS forecasts “slightly lower” growth than the OBR. As this comparison shows:

2) But they’re more optimistic about borrowing. According to the IFS, borrowing won’t be as high as the government expects. The differences between their forecasts and the OBR’s are only minimal, but they’re there all the same:

3) The tax and spend forecast. Here’s a neat little graph from the Green Budget which sets out how spending will be cut, and tax revenues increased, as a result of the coalition’s policies. As you’ll see, the burden of deficit reduction is falling far more heavily on spending cuts (the solid, dark green line) than on tax rises (the solid, black line).