Chancellor George Osborne will today learn if his proposed austerity measures have the backing of the International Monetary Fund. The highly-respected global watchdog will publish a hard-hitting report - the first since the Coalition came to power - on the health of the UK economy and its prospects. Osborne will be anxious that it approves his controversial plans to tackle the record budget deficit of £155 billion or 11 per cent of GDP. IMF inspectors have spent a week in Britain, meeting officials at the treasury and the Bank of England, and taking the temperature of the economy. The report will also deliver the IMF's verdict on the newly-created Office for Budget Responsibility and its economic forecasts, monetary policy set by the Bank of England, and reforms of the financial system including the planned abolition of the Financial Services Authority. Read more: http://www.dail*****.co.uk/money/ar...measures.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz10k29H09w
George Osborneâs deficit reduction plans were endorsed by the International Monetary Fund on Monday, which predicted the British economy would enjoy a healthy recovery and be able to bring the public finances under control. In an unusually positive annual assessment of economic policy, the Fundâs team, who have just finished a mission to the UK, found little to fault in economic policy and endorsed the governmentâs planned spending cuts. ... Predicting the economy would grow by 2 per cent next year and rise to a 2.5 per cent rate of growth in the medium term, the Fund has joined the Bank of England and Office for Budget Responsibility in believing that it is most likely that the economy will withstand deficit reduction with some ease and falling unemployment. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/224391c4-ca48-11df-a860-00144feab49a.html 2 % growth ? Ha, ha, ha. Good joke.