Britain 'to lead way in euroland'

BRITAIN will perform better than euroland this year and next, say economists. The UK economy will grow nearly 2% this year, double euroland's rate, and speed up to 2.5% in 2003, say PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Slowing growth in euroland, with Germany's close to zero this year, will push the average budget deficit to 2% of national output this year, and Germany's deficit to 3.2%, breaching European Union guidelines.