UK, Germany to be only EU economies in world's top eight by 2030

PanARMENIAN.Net - Britain and Germany will be the only European economies in the world’s top eight by 2030, experts said Monday, December 26, according to The Daily Mail.

While the UK slipped below France in the past year, it will draw level again by 2021 and overtake it soon afterwards, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Britain is currently in sixth place in the list of the largest economies in the world and while it will slip to eighth by 2030, France and Italy will fall out of the elite group completely, the CEBR said.

It predicted that China will overtake the US to take the top spot, while Brazil and South Korea will also rise in the international league table.

The report will pile pressure on Theresa May to secure strong trade deals with more distant nations after the UK leaves the EU.

The latest trade figures show British exports soared to a record high of £26.8billion in October – up 8.7 per cent on the previous month and 17.9 per cent on a year earlier. Most of this increase came from outside the EU.

While exports to the EU were up 1.5 per cent to £12.4billion in October, sales to the rest of the world jumped 15.7 per cent to a record £14.4billion.

Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Netwealth Investments and a key backer of the Leave campaign, said: "There’s no doubt that the weakest region for growth will be Western Europe, largely because of the eurozone.

"While the UK needs to retain good relationships with the EU, it needs to start playing to its global and national strength and forging trading ties further afield."