IEA Head of Public Policy Matthew Lesh has written for The Daily Mail reacting to the IMF’s recent statement urging Britain to rethink its economic policy.

Noting the pitfalls of the Fund’s new focus on inequality, Matthew wrote:

“it is that word ‘inequality’ — one which is accompanied by all manner of polarising baggage — that rings alarm bells.”

The IMF are not, however, only political, their record is also one of economic miscalculation, as Matthew discusses:

“In April 2013, for example, the IMF complained the UK was ‘playing with fire’ by pressing ahead with so-called austerity and forecast growth of just 0.7 per cent for 2013 and 1.5 per cent the next year.

Instead, the economy grew by 1.9 per cent in 2013 and 3.1 per cent in 2014, making Britain one of the fastest growing major economies in the developed world.

Then, in 2016, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) watchdog described how the IMF suffered from a ‘culture of complacency’ and complained about its ‘superficial and mechanistic’ analysis.”

The full article can be read here.