The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.

Subscribe today for just 12 pounds and receive a 12 week subscription in print and online,

along with a free 20 pound John Lewis or Weight Chows voucher.

Go to Spectator. UK.

forward slash voucher.

Hello and welcome to Coffeyhouse Shots. I'm James Heel and I'm joined today by Katie

Balls and Kate Andrews. Now Kate today the IMF had some exciting new figures out

for April. Tell us about them. Very exciting James. Actually it's a bit more of the same which isn't a great news story.

The IMF's April 2024 World Economic Outlook report is out and it has you know pretty grim news nothing you haven't heard before

about why the global economy is looking rather lackluster at the moment high interest

rates high borrowing costs, international

uncertainty, weak productivity. All the things we've been suffering from is

continuing to combine and suppress that growth we want to see, but if we break it down and look at the UK,

how is the UK looking?

And as has often been the case over the past few years,

Britain doesn't look great, but it's not the ugliest baby.

It's not the worst, based on the countries that you would

usually compare it to so among advanced economies and the UK is below average when it

comes to its predictions for economic growth this year and next year, growing at around

0.5% this year and 1.5% next year.

That's a 0.1% downgrade for both years compared to its January forecast.

But Germany still looks worse, and of course by the time you get to 2025,

...