Britain’s economy will contract without a Brexit deal, IMF warns
London — Britain’s economy will shrink if it leaves the EU without a Brexit deal and it will suffer some damage whatever terms it agrees to, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday, challenging the promises of some Brexit supporters. The IMF predicted Britain’s economy would grow by about 1.5% a year in 2018 and 2019 — lagging behind Germany and France — if a broad Brexit agreement was struck. "I’m a desperate optimist, and I very much hope and pray that there will be a deal between the European Union and the UK," IMF MD Christine Lagarde said. But failure to get a deal would lead to a contraction, she said. "Let me be clear, compared with today’s smooth single market, all the likely Brexit scenarios will have costs for the economy and to a lesser extent as well for the EU," Lagarde said as the IMF presented its annual report on Britain’s economy. "The larger the impediments to trade in the new relationship, the costlier it will be. This should be fairly obvious, but it...
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