Brexit a risk to global economic growth: G7 leaders

Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) would be a major risk to global economic growth, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies said in a summit declaration on Friday.

A British exit from the EU, or Brexit, was not formally on the agenda at the two-day G7 summit in Japan, but British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the issue with several of the leaders.

"A UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth," G7 leaders said, in the only reference to the vote in a 32-page declaration.

Brexit was listed alongside geopolitical conflicts, terrorism and refugee crisis as a potential shock of a "non-economic origin".

The G7 statement follows comments from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that there were no economic benefits for the UK to leave the EU, while the Bank of England has warned that the country’s economy would slow sharply, and possibly even enter a short recession.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has also warned that British voters risk paying a "Brexit tax" equivalent to a month's salary by 2020 if they leave the EU.

"We should listen to our friends, we should listen to people who want us to do well, who wish well of us in the world. When you are faced by a difficult decision, it is often a good thing to listen to what your friends think," Cameron told reporters at a news conference after the G7 summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said although leaders had not discussed the issue, there was a consensus that they wanted the country to stay in, while French President Francois Hollande said Brexit would be bad news.

"Economically, it would be bad news, bad news for the United Kingdom, as well as the world, not just Europe,” Hollande said. “That would trigger capital transfers as well as the relocation of some activities that would not be for the benefit if the United Kingdom or even for Europe."

The UK will hold a referendum on June 23 on whether the country should remain a member of the union.

Membership of the European Union has been a controversial issue in the UK since the country joined the then European Economic Community in 1973.

Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argue that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Those in favor of remaining in the bloc argue that leaving it would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.

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