The OECD predicts falling GDP growth for the UK, and that Brexit will be costly.
ADVERTISEMENTWhoever is in power in Britain come Friday will face a severe economic challenge in the year ahead
predicts the OECD. GDP growth will be down to 1.7% this year, and then a dismal 1% in 2018, the worst performance for a developed nation.
These projections could even be optimistic, as they assume UK trade with the EU stays more or less stable.
Euronews’ Oleksandra Vakulina put this to the OECD’s Secretary-General Angel Gurría :
“According to the very latest OECD outlook, the growth is set to weaken this year and more significantly next year to 1%. Private consumption growth is projected to slow down, business investment is projected to contract and weaker growth could push the unemployment rate above 5%…”
“Well, in absence of policies that is a possible scenario. It’s a kind of a thing we have to avoid. It should be a call to action.
It should also be the source of greater productivity, accelerating the growth of trade and investment, but also take a hard look at the skills of the workforce.”
But there remains an elephant in the room, and its name is Brexit:
“It’s unexpected, shocking, perhaps for the British as much as for the Europeans. It’s gonna be costly. It’s going to have a cost that was not there, that should not have happened. I think It’s gonna be more costly for the British,” warned Gurria.
