As she gets ready to travel to Washington for the IMF’s annual meeting this week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is encouraged by the organization’s most recent world economic outlook, which forecasts stronger growth as “falling inflation and interest rates” increase demand.
The IMF’s revised estimate of UK performance is a notable improvement over its July forecast of 0.7% growth this year and an increase of 0.6% over its April assessment.
Its 2025 GDP growth forecast of 1.5% has not changed.
Ms. Reeves responded to the news by saying: “I realize there is still more work to be done, but it’s good that the IMF has raised our growth prediction for this year. In order to safeguard working people, reform the NHS, and rebuild Britain, next week’s budget will focus on laying the groundwork for change.
In contrast, the US economy is expected to have increased by 2.5% this year, up 0.2% from the July estimate, before contracting to 2.2% in 2025.
This year, the Euro area is expected to grow by just 0.8%, down 0.1%, and next year, it is expected to rise by 1.1%, down 0.3%.
