The International Monetary Fund, in its annual Article IV assessment, cautioned that the United Kingdom could breach its self-imposed fiscal rules if economic growth falls short of expectations or if interest rates rise sharply. The Fund said current headroom is too narrow to absorb such shocks and recommended that the Treasury create additional fiscal space to safeguard compliance. To reduce what it called "overly frequent" changes to fiscal policy, the IMF advised conducting only one comprehensive evaluation of the Chancellor’s fiscal rules each year. It added that recent reforms to the UK fiscal framework have improved the credibility and effectiveness of policy and praised the government’s “bold” growth-oriented measures, while urging officials to keep flexibility in reserve for potential downturns.