The Government is most unlikely to meet its target to eliminate Britain's structural deficit by 2015, a think-tank has warned.
Chancellor George Osborne will also fail in his economic goal to stem the increase in public debt before the next General Election, according to the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).
In a report released today, the CPS said: "The Coalition came into office in 2010 with the stated aim it would eliminate the current structural deficit within five years and stem the increase in public debt as a proportion of GDP. It is not achieving these aims. Though it correctly asserts the deficit has fallen by around one-quarter since 2010, the cyclically adjusted current deficit (the part it said it wanted to eliminate within five years), had only fallen by 13.2% by the end of 2011/12."
The study said only 6% of the Coalition's planned cuts to expenditure had so far been implemented.
The right-leaning think-tank's report also said official national debt is forecast to rise by £605 billion over the course of this Parliament, or from 53% of GDP in 2009/10 to 76% of GDP in 2014/15.
The Treasury rejected the CPS analysis. A spokesman said: "The independent Office for Budget Responsibility's most recent assessment is the Government is broadly on track to meet its debt and deficit targets."
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