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'Roll with Brexit!’ Britain WILL survive no-deal because ‘WHOLE WORLD runs by WTO rules'


Jose Angel Gurria hinted a hard Brexit would not spell direct economic disaster for the international community as he suggested the OECD will “take our bumps” that come from a no-deal scenario. Suggesting Britain would revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rule, Mr Gurria said “the whole world” runs on WTO checks. Mr Gurria told Sky News at the World Economic Forum meetings at Davos: “A no-deal, WTO rules… the whole world is running by WTO rules these days. “It’s unfortunate that the UK is leaving the EU but that was the will of the British people so we take our bumps and we roll with it.”

Mr Gurria went on to declare how the OECD would try and ensure there is as little drama as possible when Britain cuts ties with the EU, but maintained it is still more likely the UK will leave with some sort of deal.

He said: ”The UK is a member of the OECD. We are going to make sure that this happens in the most seamless possible way.”

His comments come after the OECD previously forecast how Britain’s economy could have £40 billion, or more than 2 percent from gross domestic product (GDP), wiped off growth in just two years by a no-deal Brexit.

The OECD said in a major report: “The failure to come to a withdrawal agreement with the European Union is by far the greatest risk in the short term.

“The lack of details on the future relationship between the UK and the EU or the extension of the transition period, and the resulting uncertainties, could incite businesses to delay investment plans further.

“By contrast, prospects of maintaining the closest possible economic relationship with the European Union would lead to stronger-than-expected economic growth.”

The International Monetary Fund warned how a no-deal Brexit could further dent the slowdown of the eurozone economy.

The IMF has slashed its global growth forecast, citing a cooling of the economy in China, trade war tensions and political uncertainty through Brexit as triggers of their downgrade, the second of its kind in three months.

Trimming its previous prediction, the international body anticipated the global economy to grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, down 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point respectively from last October’s forecasts.

For the eurozone, growth was switched down from 1.8 percent in 2018 to 1.6 percent in 2019, 0.3 percent lower than projected three months ago.

The latest forecast from the IMF revealed Britain will keep up with or outperform the growth of some of the biggest players in the eurozone, edging ahead of economic heavyweight Germany.

The IMF is predicting Britain will outpace Germany this year, with the economic outlook for the UK remaining untouched at 1.5 percent growth in its latest forecast.

Germany will expand by 1.3 percent, a downgrade from the 1.9 percent previously anticipated.

The IMF said its projections were based on Britain leaving the EU with a deal and warned of financial turmoil should a no-deal Brexit take place.

The group commented: “As of mid-January, the shape that Brexit will take remains highly uncertain.

“This baseline projection assumes that a Brexit deal is reached in 2019 and that the UK transitions gradually to the new regime.”



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