UK budget office to produce draft of new forecasts for Oct. 7

LONDON - Britain's independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said on Thursday it had been asked by finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng to produce a first draft of its next economic forecasts on Oct. 7.

Kwarteng has said he plans to announce a budget statement on Nov. 23.

He unveiled a string of tax cuts last week in a fiscal statement that was not accompanied by OBR forecasts and which sent British financial markets into turmoil.