Maverick is Golden Guru

THE maverick monetarist Professor Patrick Minford and his team at Liverpool University have won the Independent on Sunday's Golden Guru award for the best economic forecast of 1992.

Prof Minford (above), a member of the Chancellor's panel of economic forecasters known as the 'seven wise men', was one of only two forecasters to predict that national output would continue falling last year.

Prof Minford pays particular attention to movements in the M0 measure of the money supply - notes, coin and bankers' cash at the Bank of England - when forecasting inflation and growth.

The latest Liverpool forecast predicts that growth will be just 0.3 per cent this year.

Christopher Huhne, page 12

(Photograph omitted)