UK’s budget watchdog promises initial analysis next week

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s independent budget watchdog says it would deliver an initial analysis of the government’s economic plan to Treasury officials on Oct. 7. That announcement Friday comes amid efforts to ease financial turmoil triggered by 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) of unfunded tax cuts. The announcement came after an unprecedented meeting between Prime Minister Liz Truss and officials from the Office for Budget Responsibility. It is unclear whether the preliminary analysis will be released to the public because the government didn’t mention it in its own statement on the meeting. The analysis is crucial to rebuilding confidence in British financial markets because the government’s failure to publish an independent assessment of the tax-cutting plan spooked investors last week.