Alistair Darling's lingering hopes for a rapid revival in the faltering economy next year were undercut yesterday as the International Monetary Fund reduced its forecasts for Britain's growth and sounded a warning that the country faces two years of economic pain, The Times reports.
Yet despite predicting that the UK economy will suffer its weakest two years since the last recession, the IMF cautioned that soaring inflation leaves the Bank of England “little scope” to cut interest rates to shore-up growth. The fund also used its annual economic health check on Britain to warn Mr Darling not to gamble with the nation's finances by using an expected autumn overhaul of the Treasury's fiscal rules to try to borrow his way out of economic trouble. It said that the Treasury was already set next year to breach the rule capping national debt at 40% of GDP as it slides deep...
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