UK budget is unlikely to be a radical affair

Reuters poll ahead of his annual budget statement on Wednesday suggests that UK Chancellor George Osborne would miss the goal of running a budget surplus by the end of the decade. Growth forecast for 2016 would likely be revised down but the 2017 figure might be left unchanged by the OBR, on March 16.

Osborne had the following option for raising revenue -1) reforming the pension system and 2)Revenue-raising sales of government-held shares in Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Both the options have been shelved. The Chancellor might instead accelerate plans to ease the income tax burden on people on lower and higher incomes.

"With the Chancellor constrained by both the public finances and a desire not to rock the boat ahead of the EU referendum, this budget is unlikely to be a radical affair," economists at Capital Economics said.