IMF: Global growth will be lower - but UK is on the up

The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its 2013 growth forecast for the UK to 0.9%, just three months after cutting estimates.

In its latest global outlook the organisation revised up its 2013 UK growth estimate from 0.6% to 0.9%, a move which bucked a wider trend of downgrades. The IMF downgraded its 2013 and 2014 global growth forecasts from 3.3% to 3.1% and from 4% to 3.8% respectively, with the US, Germany, and wider euro area among those to have their own estimates cut. Only Japan saw a higher upward revision in the latest report than the UK, its 2013 growth forecast being hiked from 1.5% to 2%. But the IMF also cut its 2014 Japan GDP prediction from 1.5% to 1.2%, whereas the UK estimate remained stab...