3503View
1m 4sLenght
6Rating

British economy will be largest in Europe by 2030: Austerity will see UK surging ahead of Germany and France Britain will leapfrog Germany to become Europe's largest economy by 2030, economists predict. Thanks to our decision not to join the euro, we will overtake France in less than five years to become the fifth-largest economy in the world. In a significant boost to George Osborne's austerity programme, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) hailed the UK as the second-best performing economy in the Western world after the United States -- and said France was one of the worst. Our strong currency, low taxes and the projected rise in our population -- in contrast with some of our competitors -- means our GDP will outstrip France by 2018 and Germany 12 years later. But competition from emerging economies means India and Brazil will overtake us by 2028, pushing us to seventh in the world economic league table. By then, France will be only the 13th largest economy in the world -- a humiliating blow to the proud nation and an indictment of current Socialist president Francois Hollande's policies.