Finance Minister Meets with UK OBR

On 28 November, Minister for Finance & Economic Development Hon. Rolston Anglin met with representatives of the United Kingdom’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) while in London during the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) meetings.

Minister Anglin, who is responsible for the formation and development of the overall public sector budget, has been vocal in his commitment to ensuring that the budget process is both transparent and accurate.

The meeting with the OBR was arranged by Her Excellency Governor Jane Owen to coincide with Minister Anglin’s visit to the UK as part of the Cayman Islands delegation to the JMC.

The UK’s OBR is an autonomous body set up in 2010 to provide independent and authoritative analysis of the UK’s public finances. The central duty of the Office is to examine and report on the sustainability of UK public finances.

The Office has five main roles, which are to:

• Provide economic and fiscal forecasting to accompany the Autumn Budget and Spring Statement;
• Evaluate the Government’s performance against its fiscal targets;
• Assess the long-term sustainability of the public finances and analyse the public sector’s balance sheet;
• Evaluate fiscal risks; and
• Scrutinise tax and welfare policy costings at each Budget.

While in London, Minister Anglin accompanied by Parliamentary Secretary Julie Hunter and Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson met with officials from the OBR and the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), along with Governor Owen.

During the meeting, which opened the door for future liaison, Minister Anglin outlined the current budgeting and forecasting process, which engages the Economics & Statistics Office in developing forecasts and estimates, as well as incorporating estimates from the Revenue Unit – which is independent of the remainder of the Government - and also including the estimates directly from the 19 Ministries, Portfolios and Offices of Government. The final Budget projections are a refined combination of the forecasts from these three main sources.

This process, which is a standard approach to public service budgeting, met with the understanding of the OBR representative, who offered to provide advice on an as needed basis moving forward. They also committed to sharing the job descriptions of their revenue forecasters so that the Ministry of Finance can use these to supplement any future hires.

Minister Anglin said he was very pleased to engage with the OBR. Further, he was thrilled to know that they acknowledged that there were no gaps in our process. He requested involvement in any future conferences or professional development offered to their staff.

He said, “I fully welcome any advice which helps us to further strengthen the robust estimates and forecasts currently provided by the Ministry of Finance as part of the biannual budget process. My goal as Minister of Finance is to make public finances as transparent as possible, and to ensure that the people who we serve have full trust in our projections and a full understanding of how the numbers support our policy aims to their benefit.”

More information on the UK OBR may be found at https://obr.uk/