BoE's Carney sees 10 billion-pound Brexit hit to UK economy: Times

[January 25, 2018]  LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told business leaders that the 2016 Brexit vote is costing Britain's economy around 10 billion pounds ($14.25 billion) a year, the Times newspaper said on Thursday.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speaks during the Bank's financial stability report at the Bank of England in the City of London, Britain November 28, 2017. REUTERS/Victoria Jones/Pool

Carney was asked by an attendee at a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos to quantify lost economic growth since the referendum, the newspaper said.

While Britain's economy has performed better than the BoE forecast after the June 2016 referendum, it grew at the slowest pace of all Group of Seven rich economies over the first three quarters of 2017.

Carney said he thought the loss to economic growth was equivalent to between two-thirds and three-quarters of the weekly 350 million-pound boost to public spending that Brexit supporters said was a key advantage of Brexit, the Times reported.

Government statisticians have accused Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson of misusing state data by repeating the 350 million-pounds-a-week figure.

A spokesman for the BoE declined to comment on the report which was based on comments from people who attended the meeting. Media were not allowed to attend.

Carney has been criticized by Brexit supporters for previous public comments he has made on the impact of a vote to leave the bloc on Britain's economy.

($1 = 0.7016 pounds)

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by William Schomberg)

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