Brexit campaigners have accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of trying to “bully” British voters into voting Remain in the June referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU). The timing of a crucial report due to be published by the IMF is seen as particularly cynical. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (pictured above with George Osborne) today used the opportunity of a visit to London to tell British voters there were no economic positives to Britain leaving the EU, a move with “significant downside risk” the impact of which would range from “pretty bad to very, very bad”. Ms. Lagarde claimed the “majority of economic analysis” shows that a vote for Brexit would be “costly in the long run” with a “protracted period of uncertainty”, and there would be an “adverse market reaction” to a Leave vote in the short term. As a result she predicted a “significant depreciation of sterling” and “large contractions investment and consumption, implying lower output, lower growth, and higher domestic prices.” The economic arguments put forward by Ms. Lagarde were not backed by hard data, but she said such detailed forecasts will be published, most likely on 16 June, just one week before the referendum. That move is planned by the