Chancellor's favourite institution right to urge austerity rethink, says TUC

date: 24 January 2013

embargo: For immediate release

Responding to comments made today (Thursday) by IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard on the need to ease austerity measures, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:

'The Chancellor's self-defeating austerity programme is causing so much damage that even his favourite economic institution is now telling him to think again.

'The IMF is saying what we've warned about for years - that sharp austerity off the back of a global crash will turn a recession into a decade long depression of low growth and high joblessness.

'Figures out tomorrow are expected to confirm that the UK is on the brink of an unprecedented triple-dip recession. These should give the Chancellor the perfect opportunity to heed the advice of the IMF and use his upcoming Budget to announce a new economic strategy based on investment and growth, rather than pointlessly painful cuts.'

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