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UK growth "not particularly good" warns Lagarde

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has said UK growth figures are “not good,” while speaking at a conference in Washington.

As reported by the BBC, Ms Lagarde said: “The growth numbers are certainly, not particularly good. This is a continuum of the position.”

She was speaking ahead of the IMF’s visit to the UK in May as part of Europe-wide consultations on the economies of member countries.

Earlier this week the IMF slashed its growth forecast for the UK, from a January forecast of 1% to 0.7%.

Commenting on that forecast, Stephen Gifford, CBI director for Economics, said: “With recent data from our business surveys suggesting that growth at the beginning of this year was broadly flat, it’s not surprising that the IMF has lowered its forecast.

“Consumers are being squeezed by high inflation and low wages and business confidence remains unsettled, so the pace of growth is expected to be muted through 2013.”

Ms Lagarade’s comments compounded those of IMF chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, earlier this week, who suggested the Chancellor should rethink his policies given lacklustre growth.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “There is a point at which you actually have to sit down and say maybe our assumptions were not right and maybe we have to slow down. We think that they should consider slowing fiscal consolidation.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .