What surprise praise for UK economy tells us about the Budget

The managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, has praised the UK's approach to debt reduction.

"Get your fiscal health in order," is a key message at the the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual meeting here in Thailand.

In the meantime, the finance ministers of former crisis countries are boasting about how little their borrowing costs have gone up, compared to the world's biggest economies, such as the US.

The IMF clearly seeing the UK in a different light to these major economies is very interesting.

Her comments followed those of the IMF's chief economist Silvana Tenreyro who told me that UK borrowing reductions "stand out".

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The IMF's twice-yearly assessment of global countries' economic prospects showed only the UK among the G7 having a serious plan for consolidation of its annual borrowing over the next few years, worth nearly 4% of the size of the economy. The US, Germany and Japan are increasing borrowing. Canada and Italy are keeping borrowing at the same level.

This matters because for the past half decade the UK has been on the bond market naughty step, often having the highest borrowing rates among the G7 since the Liz Truss mini budget, as political and economic crises afflicted different governments.

This is likely to mean disappointment for many public services expecting cash injections to account for rising inflation, as suggested this week by think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It will mean tough public sector pay discussions.

Ultimately forecasts mean nothing without the underpinning of solid plans. Those plans will be here for everyone to judge soon enough.

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