Brexit 'headwind' manageable

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday that Britain's vote to leave the European Union was a "headwind" for the global economy but appears unlikely to trigger a financial crisis.

"There is no question this is an additional headwind," Lew said in an interview on CNBC television. "We can manage through it."

The Treasury chief said the Brexit vote last Thursday, which roiled financial markets in its wake, did not seem to be a financial storm brewing.

"There has been an orderly impact so far," he said. "There is no sense of financial crisis developing."

Lew noted that the three-year-old trade negotiations between the US and EU to create the world's largest free-trade and investment bloc would stay on track.
The push for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership "is ongoing and will continue," he said.

"Any separate negotiation with the UK will have to take a course in part determined with what happen between the UK and the EU."

Source: AFP