Business
OBR chairman resigns over Budget leak
The chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has resigned over the early publication of the watchdog’s forecasts.
Richard Hughes said he was resigning to allow the OBR to “quickly move on from this regrettable incident”.
His resignation follows publication of a report that described the leak as “the worst failure in the 15-year history of the OBR” and strongly criticised the watchdog’s processes for protecting sensitive information.
In a letter to the Chancellor and the chairwoman of the Commons Treasury Committee, Mr Hughes said he took “full responsibility” for “the shortcomings identified in the report”.
He said: “By implementing the recommendations in this report, I am certain the OBR can quickly regain and restore the confidence and esteem that it has earned through 15 years of rigorous, independent economic analysis.”
Mr Hughes has served as chairman of the OBR since 2020 and was reappointed to the job for a second five-year term in July this year.
Speaking in the Commons as the news of the resignation broke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray offered the Government’s thanks to Mr Hughes “for his dedication to public service”.
Later, the Chancellor herself offered her thanks for Mr Hughes’ “many years of public service”, adding: “This Government is committed to protecting the independence of the OBR and the integrity of our fiscal framework and institutions.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the Chancellor of using Mr Hughes as a “human shield” and called on Rachel Reeves to resign.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said Mr Hughes was “a dedicated public servant” who had “rightly taken responsibility for a failure on his watch”, adding the OBR needed to learn from its “catastrophic error”.
Treasury Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier also thanked Mr Hughes, saying: “I commend his decision to take full responsibility for the incident and I wish him well for the future.”
The Treasury said it would begin the process of finding a replacement for Mr Hughes “in the coming weeks”.
The OBR launched an investigation after official forecasts were uploaded to the watchdog’s website, releasing details of the Budget almost an hour early.
In a report published on Monday, the OBR said the leak had been “seriously disruptive to the Chancellor, who had every right to expect that the (forecasts) would not be publicly available until she sat down at the end of her Budget speech”.
Noting Mr Hughes had already “rightly” apologised for the leak, the report said it was “not a case of intentional leakage” or a matter of pressing publish too early.
The OBR said it was caused by two errors linked to the WordPress publishing site it used.
The report into the incident said that, while it knew web addresses for its files follow a pattern, it assumed “the protections provided” by WordPress “would ensure it could not be accessed”.
But two configuration errors were the technical causes of the premature access.
The forecast for the last spring statement in March was also “accessed prematurely” on one occasion, the report noted, but concluded that no activity appeared to have been taken as a result and the most likely explanation is “benign”.
The report recommended a review of the watchdog’s processes for publishing such documents.
“To rebuild trust, the leadership of the OBR must take immediate steps to change completely the publication arrangements for the two important and time-sensitive documents containing the results of its biannual forecasts that it publishes in a normal year, and review arrangements for all other publications,” the report said.
One option would be for the watchdog to use the Government’s digital architecture but publish when it wants.
Another would be to have the Treasury publish the forecasts for the Budget and spring statement, but this would only work if safeguards for “real and perceived independence” could be put in place.
There may need to be an interim solution, the report noted, but said new arrangements must be in place in time for the next statement in spring 2026.
Business
Budget 2026 Should Support MSMEs, Critical Minerals For Boosting Trade Resilience: Deloitte
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Deloitte India urges FY27 Budget to boost MSME support and critical mineral security, job protection and advancing India’s global manufacturing and clean energy goals.
Budget 2026 Expectations.
Budget 2026: Deloitte India has pitched a sharper focus on MSME support and critical mineral security in the FY27 Union Budget, arguing that these measures are essential to strengthen India’s trade resilience and reduce external vulnerabilities amid rising global uncertainty.
In its Budget expectations note, Deloitte India said micro, small and medium enterprises play a pivotal role in the economy, accounting for nearly 46% of India’s exports and emerging as the second-largest employer after agriculture. According to the firm, easing financial and compliance-related pressures on MSMEs would help them cope with global volatility, sustain production and remain competitive in overseas markets.
The Union Budget 2026-27 will be tabled on Sunday, February 1.
“Strengthening MSMEs will safeguard jobs and drive inclusive economic growth, boost rural incomes and support India’s ambition to become a global manufacturing hub,” Deloitte said.
The firm recommended measures such as enhanced export credit availability, concessional financing and simplified digital compliance systems to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. It also called for comprehensive training programmes to improve last-mile competitiveness of MSMEs, particularly those linked to global value chains.
Deloitte further suggested targeted export incentives or enhanced duty drawback support for tariff-sensitive sectors such as ready-made garments, gems and jewellery, and leather, which are more vulnerable to global trade disruptions.
Highlighting the risks from an increasingly protectionist global environment, Deloitte Economist Rumki Majumdar said rising uncertainty from tariff hikes, changes in rules of origin and non-tariff barriers could disproportionately affect Indian exporters. While the direct impact of global trade frictions on GDP growth may be limited to 40-80 basis points, the spillover effects on MSMEs and employment could be far more severe.
“MSMEs contribute 30.1 per cent to GDP, account for 45.79 per cent of India’s exports and employ nearly 290 million people; disruptions in export markets or tightening trade rules pose serious risks to jobs and income stability,” Majumdar said.
Beyond MSMEs, Deloitte emphasised the need for a strategic push on critical minerals to secure supply chains and support India’s clean energy transition. It proposed setting up a dedicated critical minerals fund to finance overseas acquisitions and technology partnerships, ensuring long-term access to essential resources.
The firm also recommended deeper global collaboration with regions such as Africa, Australia and Latin America to secure upstream access to minerals, alongside joint research and development in mineral processing and recycling. In addition, it called for incentives to promote investments in renewable energy, green hydrogen and grid-scale energy storage.
Deloitte said expanded funding for exploration, extraction and processing of key critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt and rare earth magnets, would be crucial to reduce import dependence and strengthen India’s strategic and economic security in the years ahead.
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January 16, 2026, 15:02 IST
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Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday staged a strong comeback, breaking the long bearish momentum as snowballing forex reserves have lifted investor sentiment.
During intraday trading, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index gained a whopping 3,146.23 points to climb to 184,602.56 points, marking a positive change of 1.70%.
Out of 562 active companies, share prices of 375 advanced and of 67 declined while rates of 120 companies remained unchanged.
Economic analysts said the uptick offered some breathing space for the economy, even as the country continued to keep a close watch on external inflows and outflows.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves inched up by $16 million over the past week, according to figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The central bank said its official reserves rose from $16.0557 billion to $16.0718 billion, showing a modest gain during the week.
Overall, the country’s total reserves climbed to $21.2484 billion.
The State Bank also noted that commercial banks’ holdings went up by $5.6 million, reaching $5.1927 billion.
The central bank projects the FY26 current account deficit at 0–1% of GDP and sees reserves at $17.8 billion by June 2026 with planned official inflows.
A day earlier, the stock exchange dropped by over 1,100 points due to massive selling pressure.
The PSX had extended losses after recording an increase for a brief period as investors seemed cautious amid rising geopolitical tensions involving Iran.
During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index touched 183,717.53 due to strong buying in the early sessions before it turned bearish by losing 69.29 points to close at 182,500.52 points.
International officials have warned that US military intervention in Iran now appears likely and could take place within the next 24 hours amid sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.
American, European and Israeli sources said preparations for possible action were under way as Washington began evacuating personnel from its major air base in Qatar.
NEW DELHI: People with job cards assigned under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme will be able to get work without disruption when transition takes place to new rural employment framework under Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act.Even though exact timeframe is not known yet, rural development ministry officials said the VB-G RAM G scheme will come into force in the coming financial year after the Centre frames and notifies the rules. After govt notifies the Act’s commencement date, states will get six months to make their schemes to enable implementation of the law.To ensure there is no disruption and job guarantee is upheld during transition from MGNREGA, it has been proposed to enable workers to use the same job cards issued under MGNREGA with Aadhaar-based eKYC.The officials said that as of now, around 75% of job cards have been verified with eKYC under the ongoing scheme. Moreover, ongoing projects under MGNREGA, if incomplete when the transition happens to the new scheme, would stay on course.Meanwhile, work is on to frame rules, lay out regulations on normative allocations, fund flow plan, IT framework, a national-level steering panel and social audits.Under the new law, focus will be on transparency to weed out leakages and duplicacy of work,the social audit system will be strengthened, and technology leveraged to create systems to establish work progress, timely wage payment and accountability through ‘e-measurement’ books, sources said. Demand for work will have to be entered on a digital platform. Officials made it clear the new law in no way interferes with demand-driven character of the scheme.
Budget 2026 Should Support MSMEs, Critical Minerals For Boosting Trade Resilience: Deloitte
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