The UK’s economic growth will outstrip its fellow members of the G7 developed nations in 2014, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report.

The organisation said the UK would grow at 2.9 per cent in 2014, a healthy clip not seen since before the credit crunch.

The figure is almost double the IMF’s previous estimate delivered last April, and is better than expectations for bigger economies such as the US, Germany and Japan.

Last year, the IMF’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard said the UK’s economic policy of public spending cuts was “playing with fire”, something he now regrets.

“I think it’s fair to say that our forecast was too pessimistic,” said Mr Blanchard, adding that the IMF had “under-forecasted”.

“Part of our job is to think about risks, but fortunately most risks to not materialise. This is good news for the UK,” he added.

Also today, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research estimated UK growth of 0.9 per cent in the first quarter (January-to-March) of the year.

That would be the fastest quarterly rate of growth since 2010.