The Minister for Finance presented the 2017 Mid-Year Budget and Fiscal Policy Review to Parliament on 31st July 2017. Prior to the review, IFS issued an assessment of the performance of the economy and the budget and made recommendations to address shortcomings that it had identified.
During IFS’ pre-Mid-Year Review assessment, most of the data available at the time was up to April. The Minister, however, provided updated data in his review in most cases up to June. The IFS has critically looked at the Mid-Year Review and presents its assessment in this paper.