Alistair Darling moved to calm fears about a house price crash yesterday and stood by his predictions for economic growth despite a gloomy forecast from the International Monetary Fund.

The Chancellor told the Radio 4 programme Today that there were still “grounds for optimisim” in the face of an “unprecedented shock to the economy”. He said that there would “obviously” be a slowdown but stuck to his Budget projection that the economy would grow by between 1.75 and 2.25 per cent this year and between 2.25 and 2.75 per cent in 2009.

His comments came as the IMF downgraded its forecasts for growth this year and next to 1.6 per cent.

Mr Darling said that Britain had a “strong economy that had proved remarkably resilient” in the slowdown. He said that the IMF had downgraded Britain by less than other big economies. He also insisted that Britain was better placed than other countries to cope with the downturn. The Chancellor flies to Washington today to meet other finance ministers at the IMF spring meeting. He said: “I do remain optimistic that provided we can take action . . . with other countries . . . then we can ensure that the economy stays growing as it has done.”

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown called on G8 leaders in a letter to work together to tackle soaring food prices.

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