Moscow: The UK Office for Budget Responsibility will forecast later on Thursday that the United Kingdom will face an economic downturn in 2020 in case the country withdraws from the European Union without a deal, media have reported.
The Times reported that later in the day, the agency will reveal its analysis of effects that the no-deal Brexit is expected to have on the UK economy in the coming five years.
The UK economy is forecast to shrink in 2020 and recover in 2021, according to the outlet.
Still, it was likely to be at least 3 percent smaller under the no-deal scenario than in case the country withdrew from the European Union with a deal, the reports added.
In 2016, UK citizens voted to leave the European Union. The country was initially set to withdraw from the bloc last March but UK lawmakers have not endorsed a Brexit deal agreed upon by London and Brussels, so the deadline was moved to October 31.
However, politicians on both sides have voiced concerns that there were prospects for the UK withdrawal without a deal due to the lack of progress in settling disagreements between the United Kingdom and the European Union.