Hammond sets target for cyclically-adjusted budget deficit

Chancellor Philip Hammond said on Wednesday the government would aim to cut the country's budget deficit, adjusted for swings in the economy, to below 2 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the current parliament in 2020. Public sector net debt should also be falling as a percentage of economic output by the end of the current parliament while welfare spending must also remain inside a cap set by the government, Hammond said as he set the government's new fiscal rules.