IMF raises UK growth forecast as economist says Healey should ‘stay the course’

Chancellor of the exchequer John Healey makes his speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

John Healey should “stay the course” and continue repairing the UK’s public finances, the International Monetary Fund’s top economist has said, after the fund lifted its growth forecast for Britain.

Little more than a fortnight before Healey’s first budget, Silvana Tenreyro, the IMF’s economic counsellor, said the UK “stands out” among G7 countries in having a plan to narrow its deficit.