The OBR’s Richard Hughes: ‘With a shock like Covid, you get information from wherever you can’

The economic forecaster was once thrown into Zimbabwe's hyperinflation crisis. Now he faces another fast-moving challenge

Richard Hughes has one of the best views in London. From his open-plan office on the 14th floor of the Ministry of Justice building, he can see Buckingham Palace in one direction and parliament in the other.

As well as compiling the government's economic and financial forecasts, Hughes has become something of an amateur meteorologist. You can look out of the window and say, It is going to rain in 15 minutes' time.'"