Presenting the IMF’s annual healthcheck of the UK economy alongside chancellor George Osborne, Lagarde said there were risks to the outlook, including from the housing market, but she was generally positive.
“The UK authorities have managed to repair the damage of the crisis in a way few other countries have been able to do,” she said.
Lagarde said the IMF will work through various scenarios for the EU referendum outcome in its next assessment of the UK due in May 2016. But she added: “On a personal basis… I am very, very much hopeful that the UK stays within the EU.”
Osborne said the IMF’s latest assessment of the UK “could hardly be more positive”.
“I take this as an endorsement of our plan to fix the roof while the sun is shining,” he said.
The Fund also used its assessment to recommend that interest rates should remain on hold at their record low of 0.5% until there are clearer signs of inflationary pressures.
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