The new Chancellor, John Major, has taken office at a difficult time for the conduct of economic policy. The boom of the late 1980s has spent its force, but as yet there is no sign of the improvement in the balance of payments, or the reduction in inflation one might expect as a consequence.

In our main forecasts we show output growth in 1990 of just over 1½ per cent, less than 1 per cent excluding North Sea oil production. Consumer spending, which gave the main impetus to the early stages of the boom, will hardly rise next year and stock building is expected to turn negative. Fixed investment is unlikely to contribute much to the growth of demand year-on-year. The fall in the exchange rate during this year will help to sustain export growth next year, although world markets will not be as buoyant as they have been in 1989.