LONDON, Dec 5: Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Monday slashed the British government’s economic growth forecast this year to 1.75 per cent from 3.0-3.5 per cent. Brown told parliament in his pre-budget report Britain’s growth in gross domestic product would expand by 2.0-2.5 per cent in 2006, compared with the forecast of between 2.5 and 3.0 per cent made in the March 2005 budget.

Meanwhile, predicted growth for 2007 was upgraded to between 2.75-3.25 per cent from the previous forecast of 2.25-2.75 per cent.

The economy would however meet the government’s 2.0-per cent inflation target. “... e are on course to meet the inflation target of 2.0 per cent,” Brown told lawmakers.

nnual consumer price inflation stood at 2.3 per cent in October.

Britain’s GDP growth on a 12-month basis stood at 1.7 per cent during the third quarter of 2005, compared with a 12-year low of 1.5 per cent annual growth in the previous quarter.

The economy should grow by 2.4 per cent in 2006 compared with an estimated growth rate of 1.7 per cent this year, owing to higher levels of investment and exports, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said last week.—AFP