Growth warning for Germany and France

FRANCE, Germany and Italy will experience the biggest economic slowdowns of all major economies over the next two years, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday.

In a series of shock downgrades, the IMF warned that their economic growth would shrink by 0.3 per cent this year.

Italy and France would then see their growth fall even further in 2019.

The IMF also warned that a global trade war threatened worldwide growth and flagged uncertainties in the EU.

The IMF lowered its 2018 growth projections for the UK from 1.6 per cent to 1.4 per cent in its monthly World Economic Outlook. But it kept its predictions flat for 2019, saying the economy should grow by 1.5 per cent. John Longworth, who was ousted as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce for supporting Brexit, said: ‘The downgrades show the European economic zone is not healthy. It’s a protectionist area, it doesn’t stimulate growth.

‘The fact that the EU is not performing well and the eurozone is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy says that we should concentrate our efforts on forming relationships with the rest of the world, where 90 per cent of growth is going to come from.’