ifo President Fuest: Brexit Consequences Cannot Be Ruled Out Following UK Election
Clemens Fuest, President of the ifo Institute, warns of further uncertainty – even after the Conservative party won the United Kingdom’s snap election with a clear majority.
“Boris Johnson’s calculated plan to win over Brexit supporters and take advantage of many Britons’ concern over Labour’s radical left-wing agenda has paid off. We can now expect an imminent agreement on Brexit.” From an economic perspective, this development averts a hard Brexit and its incalculable costs for the time being. “But it’s still too early to give the all-clear. It will be difficult to conclude a free trade agreement within the transition period, which expires at the end of 2020,” Fuest adds. According to a study by the EconPol Europe research network, the uncertainty surrounding Brexit costs the United Kingdom almost EUR 20 billion every year. Fuest also refers to the situation in the individual countries that make up the United Kingdom: “Scotland is heading towards a second referendum on independence, which will also create uncertainty.”
Publication
Fabien Tripier: Assessing the Cost of Uncertainty Created by Brexit, EconPol Opinion 25, December 2019
