Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the IMF's revision of the UK's growth outlook from 1.6 to 1.5 per cent for 2019.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an independent international organisation. The official economy and fiscal forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility are used to inform policy decisions.

The IMF recently concluded their Article IV assessment of the UK economy and judge that “The fiscal framework adopted by the authorities prudently aims to reduce the deficit (after accounting for the impact of the economic cycle) to below 2 percent of GDP by 2020/21, and to balance the budget by the middle of the next decade.”