G7 leaders warn that Brexit is a ‘serious risk’ to the global economy
World leaders are warning about the damage a British exit from the European Union could do to the global economy.
The possibility of Britain choosing to leave the world’s biggest single market is a “serious risk to growth,” leaders of G7 nations said Friday.
Brits will decide whether they want to remain part of the EU in a referendum on June 23. It’s unclear which way it will go, with a significant number of voters still undecided, according to opinion polls.
A vote to leave would “reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create,” the G7 leaders said in a declaration from a summit in Japan.
The G7 groups together top developed nations, including the U.S., Japan, Germany and Britain.
U.S. President Barack Obama has already urged Britain to remain a member of the EU, warning last month that a decision to leave — the Brexit scenario — would put the country “at the back of the queue” for a free trade deal with the U.S.
International organizations, like the International Monetary Fund, have also predicted damage from a departure, particularly to the British economy. But a group of pro-Brexit economists has disputed that, forecasting that leaving the EU would boost the U.K. economy by 4%.
Investors are already nervous, and the pound has fallen against other major currencies this year.
