IMF upgrades UK economic forecasts for 2021 and 2022

07 Apr 2021

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its UK economic forecasts for 2021 and 2022.

The IMF predicts economic growth of 5.3% this year and growth of 5.1% in 2022. However, the UK economy is still only predicted to return to its pre-pandemic size by late 2022.

Had governments failed to intervene to prop up economies, the global recession caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would have had a deeper impact, the IMF suggested.

Vaccines are key to fueling economic growth, it stated. Countries with slower vaccine rollouts and those reliant on tourism, however, are likely to recover slowly.

'Already, unprecedented economic policy actions have prevented far worse outcomes,' said Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist at the IMF.

'Our estimates suggest last year's severe collapse could have been about at least three times as large had it not been for the swift policy support worldwide.'