Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as IMF warns that future debt levels could be higher than currently projected

• Cooling labour market adds to Reeves’s tax-raising dilemma

Twice as many people are out of work sick than are officially unemployed, says Dr Helen Gray, chief economist of Learning and Work Institute:

This month’s data show that the number of people economically inactive due to long-term sickness remains elevated, at 2.8 million – double the number of people who are unemployed.

This highlights the need for the forthcoming White Paper on the Plan to Get Britain Working to focus on joining up work, skills and health, and providing support to the 9-in-10 out-of-work disabled people each year who do not currently receive help to find work.

“I think it’s a sign of the difficult inheritance we have had as a Government, that the economy has been in a difficult position for a number of years.

“What we are focused on now is what we can do as a Government to get us on a better track.”