Gloomy Brexit forecasts for UK are coming true, says IMF

Fund trims growth forecast as Christine Lagarde strongly defends pre-referendum prediction of slowdown from leave vote

The International Monetary Fund has strongly defended its gloomy forecasts for the UK after Brexit, saying pre-referendum warnings of slower growth were coming true.

Christine Lagarde, the fund's managing director, said the vote to leave the EU in June 2016 was already having an impact and Britain's weaker growth this year was in contrast to accelerating activity in the rest of the world.

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