Key facts
- The IMF is not recommending that the UK accelerate its fiscal consolidation.
- The UK government aims to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenue by the 2029/30 financial year.
- The UK government ran a budget deficit of 4.4% of GDP last year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not recommending that the UK accelerate its fiscal consolidation, an IMF official said on Wednesday. "Our recommendation is 'stay the course'. We are not saying 'accelerate the pace of consolidation'," said Rodrigo Valdes, the IMF's fiscal affairs director, during IMF-World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The UK government's goal is to balance its day-to-day spending with tax revenue by the 2029/30 financial year. Last year, the UK government ran a budget deficit of 4.4% of GDP. Previous governments have frequently failed to meet similar fiscal targets.