UK to become top European economy by 2030: report

LONDON

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) announced on Thursday that it predicts the British economy will become the top economy in Europe, leaving Germany behind by 2030.

CEBR's "World Economic League Table (WELT) report for 2013" predicted that the UK would become the second largest western economy after the US despite going down in the global rankings because of the strong growth of Indian, Brazilian and Russian economies.

Regarding the British economy, CEBR noted, "Positive demographics with continuing immigration and rather less exposure to the problems of the Eurozone than other European economies combine with relatively low taxes by European standards to encourage faster growth than in most western economies".

The report also predicted that China would become the world's biggest economy by 2028, adding that theoretically Germany should continue to perform well in future years.

"However, on the assumption that the euro does not break up, a combination of weak European economic growth, a depreciating currency, the requirement to bail out ailing economies in the rest of the Eurozone and increasingly adverse population trends mean that in this forecast Germany eventually slips down the league table," the report said as to the German economy.

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