Few British Chancellors have received such a garlanded arrival at the IMF as John Healey.
asserted
Chancellors → receive → Healey
He may prove to be a minimalist Chancellor at the upcoming Budget.
uncertain
He → prove → Budget
But repeated endorsement of Britain’s fiscal discipline, ahead of October 28, together with better-than-forecast growth this year has brought rare praise from the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva.
asserted
endorsement → repeat → director
She added the standard admonition that the UK must stick to the course.
asserted
UK → add → course
Rachel Reeves’ £75billion of tax-raising Budgets may have injured and angered great British businesses such as Marks & Spencer and led to a surge in unemployment among the nation’s young people.
uncertain
75billion → raise → people
But they have satisfied economic purists.
asserted
they → satisfy → purists
There is nothing the International Monetary Fund likes more than a fiscal plan.
asserted
Fund → be → plan
Yet critical Labour spending decisions remain in abeyance, and the UK will have more debt at the end of this Parliament than at the beginning.
asserted
UK → remain → beginning
The IMF has upgraded Britain's growth forecast in a boost for Chancellor John Healey ahead of the Autumn Budget
Georgieva is demanding that Paris gets its act together and passes a budget.
asserted
Paris → upgrade → budget
The rules make the task of Chancellor even more difficult.
asserted
task → make → Chancellor
Healey, as Defence Secretary, advocated more military spending and resigned after predecessor Rachel Reeves declined to fund £28billion of outlays in the Defence Investment Plan.
asserted
Reeves → advocate → Plan
Now the IMF has intervened.
asserted
IMF → intervene → ?
It notes that Britain and other Western democracies have guns-and-butter choices to make.
asserted
Britain → note → choices
Freedom can be defended by military, not welfare, expenditure.
asserted
Freedom → defend → expenditure
Both the IMF’s fiscal chief, Rodrigo Valdes, and Georgieva are demanding ‘urgent’ action.
asserted
chief → demand → action
They make an obvious and pertinent point for Britain.
asserted
They → make → Britain
The bigger the debt pile, the greater the interest rate costs and the more potent the doom loop.
asserted
rate → cost → ?
Georgieva offered an insight into why Britain pays more for its ten-year and 30-year borrowing than the rest of the G7.
asserted
Britain → offer → G7
The City of London pays a price for being at the heart of capitalism.
asserted
City → pay → capitalism
The deepest wholesale, derivative and foreign exchange markets in Europe are based in the UK, as are many of the European and global offices of the smartest players such as hedge funds Citadel and Apollo and investment bankers Goldman Sachs.
asserted
many → base → Citadel
Every political twist provides a trading opportunity.
asserted
twist → provide → opportunity
Nevertheless, if Britain had a Government willing to set about a bloated welfare budget, as the Tories are proposing, then the cost of financing the national debt could be reduced.
uncertain
cost → have → debt
British Chancellors have come to IMF meetings with big ideas.
asserted
Chancellors → come → ideas
John Major’s terrible decision to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism was unveiled at the IMF.
asserted
decision → join → IMF
Gordon Brown’s debt relief plans for poor countries were authored at the meetings.
asserted
plans → author → meetings
Healey has big, not necessarily smart, shoes to fill.
asserted
Healey → have → shoes
Andrew Bailey rarely gets rave reviews for monetary policy.
asserted
Bailey → get → policy
He was Governor when inflation, post-Covid-19 and Russia’s war on Ukraine, soared to 11.1 per cent in October 2022.
asserted
inflation → soar → October
His work for the Bank of England on artificial intelligence’s financial risks has proved more sure-footed.
asserted
work → prove → risks
At a panel on building fraud-resistant financial services, Bailey demanded that the authorities fight fire with fire.
asserted
authorities → build → fire
He was fiercely critical of big-tech platforms which have become the great distributors of financial fraud, with more than 70 per cent of people targeted online.
asserted
cent → become → people
And he contrasted undisciplined digital platforms with newspapers where every word written about finance and business advertising is strictly regulated.
asserted
word → contrast → finance
Bringing unruly, arrogant online platforms to heel is all but impossible.
asserted
Bringing → bring → heel
Fines for wrongdoing are regarded as a cost of doing business.
asserted
Fines → regard → business
Why has the IMF suddenly started making nice to Britain after two decades of coolness?
asserted
IMF → start → coolness
If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission.
uncertain
This → take → commission
These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting.
asserted
they → choose → team
This does not affect our editorial independence.
asserted
This → affect → independence
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