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British economy strong enough to survive Brexit, says former Goldman Sachs economist
The UK was likely to fair better than many forecasts had suggested, with the benefits of global growth in the next few years said to "easily dwarf" any blows as result of it leaving the EU, according to former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.
O'Neill, a former treasury minister, said that Brexit was a "weird thing for the UK to impose on itself" but was not the biggest issue facing the nation.
"I certainly wouldn't have thought the UK economy would be as robust as it currently seems," O'Neill told the BBC.
He said several parts of the country, particularly the northwest of England, appeared to actually be doing "way better" than most people seemed to realise or appreciate.
"As well as this crucial fact, the rest of the world is doing way better than many people would have thought a year ago, so it makes it easier for the UK," he added.
The British economy, the sixth-largest in the world, has been projected to slow only slightly during 2017, projected to have grown around 1.8%, and while the Bank of England forecast growth for the UK in 2018 to be in the realm of 1.6%, O'Neill predicted a more rapid rate of expansion given the world economy's expected growth of no less than 4%.
A report published by Cambridge Econometrics, an economics consultancy service, implied that Britain's economy could possibly be as much as 3% smaller by 2030 than it would be if Britain chose to exit the EU without a transition or trade deal.
"If that's the worst that Brexit will deliver, then I wouldn't worry about it," O'Neill said on Monday. "Now, my own view is if we go for a really hard Brexit or a no-deal Brexit, we'll probably suffer more than that 3%."
"But if it is only 3%, what's going on with the rest of the world - helping us - and with productivity improving, that will easily dwarf a 3% hit over 13 years, easily," he added.