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September's positive reading also comes after a dire result in August, when the data was affected by one-off factors such as annual plant closures for holidays in the crucial auto sector, it said.

The state legislature has agreed to raise that limit before, usually under dire circumstances like the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, or the 2008 financial crisis.

If its purpose is to distract emotionally from the dire subject of a missing child and his mother, Mr. Peña already has that covered.

"Substantial tax cuts" are not currently "realistic" because of the "dire state" of the public finances, he said, proposing instead "relatively modest" changes, such as raising tax thresholds and scrapping inheritance tax for family-run businesses.

But by skirting around the issue of whether manifesto pledges will be adhered to, while claiming to have inherited a dire environment, the chancellor has stoked speculation that income tax rates may rise.