Today the IMF released the concluding statement of their findings from the UK Article IV Mission – their annual review of the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook and policies.
As part of this, the IMF upgraded the UK’s growth forecast for 2025 to 1.2%, saying that “an economic recovery is underway”.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said:
The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 for the first three months of this year and today the IMF has upgraded our growth forecast. We’re getting results for working people through our Plan for Change – with three new trade deals protecting jobs, boosting investment and cutting prices, a pay rise for three million workers through the National Living Wage, and wages beating inflation by £1,000 since the election.
The IMF endorsed the government’s fiscal strategy as striking ‘a good balance between supporting growth and safeguarding fiscal sustainability’; the strategy focuses on delivering stability through ironclad commitment to our robust fiscal rules and a single fiscal event a year, while increasing investment and pursuing ambitious structural reform to boost productivity and growth. Growth is the solution to the challenges we face, and this government is going further and faster to unlock growth that is sustainable in the long term.
The IMF also highlighted support for the government’s Growth Mission, and that it “focuses on the right areas to lift productivity”. Through the Growth Mission, the government is restoring stability, increasing investment, and reforming the economy to drive up prosperity and living standards across every region of the UK.
The IMF welcomed the government’s spending plans as “credible and growth-friendly”, noting that “they are expected to provide an economic boost over the medium term”. The government’s upcoming Spending Review, Industrial Strategy and Infrastructure Strategy will deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the UK’s growing and high potential sectors.
The IMF’s full UK Article IV surveillance report will be published in the summer.
