Britain defies the gloomy IMF

THE International Monetary Fund was forced to upgrade its forecasts for Brexit Britain again yesterday as the economy continued to defy its doom-laden predictions.

The Washington-based watchdog said it expects the UK economy to grow by 1.6 per cent this year – up from the 1.5 per cent it forecast in January.

And it said that while the UK will lag behind other major nations for the next two years, by 2023 Britain will be growing faster than Germany – assuming trade negotiations continue smoothly. Maurice Obstfeld, the IMF’s top economist, said: ‘Things do not look so bad longer term for the British economy.’

The Fund predicted UK growth of 1.1 per cent in 2017 – but the economy in fact grew by 1.8 per cent.