UK National Debt to Treble Over Next 50 Years, OBR Forecast Suggests

The long-term risks to the economy will lead to UK national debt tripling over the next 50 years, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned. The pressures leading to a remarkable jump in the cost of what the government owes to its creditors include climate change, ageing population and geopolitical tension, the OBR said. In its latest Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report, the watchdog estimated the government spending to surge from 45 to 60 percent of GDP over the next 50 years. The revenues will remain at around 40 percent, and the national debt will rise to 274 percent of GDP from the late 2030s. “Long-term projections such as these are inherently highly uncertain but there is a similar upward debt trajectory in nearly all the alternative scenarios that we consider,” the OBR said....