Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the OECD global trade outlook and its recommendation that governments should step up investment to support growth.

The latest OECD Economic Outlook forecasts the UK to be the joint fastest growing major advanced economy in 2015. The OECD have revised down the forecast for both world trade growth and global GDP growth in 2015 and 2016. This demonstrates the need to continue to fix the economy to ensure the UK can deal with risks from abroad.

The government remains committed to encouraging long-term investment and promoting a dynamic economy, and recently set out comprehensive reforms to support productivity growth in “Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation”.