Fiscal Policy

26 August 2026 · United Kingdom

The UK government has confirmed that VAT on household electricity will be removed from 1 October 2026. The rate falls from 5% to 0% for the rest of the 2026-27 financial year. The government estimates the change will save households about £45 a year on average, cost around £850 million in 2026-27 and reduce CPI inflation by about 0.10 percentage points. It says the current-year measure is funded through cancellation of the £1.8 billion Digital ID programme.

11 June 2026 · Developing economies / Global

The World Bank's June 2026 Global Economic Prospects forecast developing-economy growth slowing from 4.4% in 2025 to 3.6% in 2026. More importantly for A-Level evaluation, the Bank said developing economies excluding China and India are approaching a decade with almost no progress in narrowing the per-capita income gap with advanced economies. This makes the release a strong growth-versus-development case.

21 August 2026 · United Kingdom

UK public sector net borrowing was £1.8bn in July 2026 and net debt stood at £2,984.9bn, or 94.1% of GDP. The example is useful for separating the borrowing flow from the debt stock and evaluating fiscal policy rather than treating all borrowing as automatically harmful.