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BBC News
By John Campbell
Published
image copyrightSteve Parsons/PA
image captionThe Fiscal Council will make an annual assessment of the NI Executive s revenue streams and spending proposals Like Glentoran signing Lionel Messi.
The world of Northern Ireland public finance rarely inspires hyperbole like that.
But it is how the economist Richard Ramsey described the appointment of the chairman of Stormont s new independent budget oversight body.
The fiscal Messi is Sir Robert Chote, the former chairman of the UK s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Sir Robert became the OBR s first permanent chair in 2010, building it into a trusted independent body and showing himself to be a highly effective communicator.
BBC News
By John Campbell
Published
An independent budget watchdog for Stormont is to begin work shortly.
It will be chaired by Sir Robert Chote who spent 10 years as the chairman of the UK s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
He will be joined by Prof Alan Barrett, the director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin.
The other members are Northern Ireland-based economists Maureen O Reilly and Esmond Birnie.
The body, which to be known as the Independent Fiscal Council, will make an annual assessment of the Northern Ireland Executive s revenue streams and spending proposals.
It will also prepare an annual report on the sustainability of the executive s public finances, including the implications of spending policy and the effectiveness of long-term efficiency measures.