Government minister Stephen Kinnock wrong to claim UK is predicted to be ‘highest growing economy’

2 May 2025

During an interview on Times Radio [2:22:10] on Monday 28 April, minister for care Stephen Kinnock MP claimed: “the IMF and the OECD are predicting that we will be the highest growing economy over the next 12 months.” The claim was picked up by Full Fact’s AI tools.

But that’s not what the latest figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show.

Figures published by the OECD and the IMF in March and April respectively project that several countries will see faster GDP growth in 2025 compared to the UK, including advanced economies like the US and Spain, and developing economies like Brazil.

It’s possible Mr Kinnock intended to say that the UK is projected to be the highest growing European economy in the G7—that is, that it’s projected to grow faster than France, Germany and Italy—which would be correct. 

We’ve seen a number of government ministers make similar errors in recent months.

Full Fact has contacted Mr Kinnock about his claim and will update this blog post if we receive a response.

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