IMF Reiterates Need for UK, EU to Reach Deal to Avoid Cliff-Edge Brexit

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The International Monetary Fund is reiterating the need for both the UK and the EU to reach a Brexit deal that includes an implementation period in order to prevent a "cliff-edge" and allow for a period of adjustment, IMF Communications Department Director Gerry Rice said in a press briefing on Thursday.

"[A]gain as we’ve said before is clearly for the UK and the EU to determine, so again we encourage both parties to continue their efforts to reach timely agreement accompanied by an implementation period to avoid a cliff-edge and to allow firms and workers sufficient time to adjust to the new relationship," Rice told reporters.

Rice went on saying that the Brexit negotiation process was developing and fluid, but that the IMF would like to see progress in those discussions.

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Following more than a year of tough talks on Brexit conditions, London and Brussels have finally produced a draft agreement on the conditions of the British divorce from the bloc. Late on Wednesday, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier revealed the contents of the provisional deal, which included agreements on citizens' rights, London's financial settlement, future trade relations, transitional period in the London-Brussels relations and the Irish border issue.

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Earlier on Thursday, a British lawmaker speaking on behalf of 50 members of the ruling Tory party, which favours a harder Brexit, requested a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Theresa May. Jacob Rees-Mogg called the draft withdrawal agreement worse than anticipated" and said it failed to meet the promises give to the nation by the Prime Minister.

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