The EU's economy chief Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday said the impact of the UK leaving the EU's single market will be more painful for Britain than for the EU. While releasing the European Commission's latest forecast for the EU economy, Gentiloni said the hit on the EU's overall GDP from Britain's departure from Europe's integrated economy is expected to be a half a percentage point over two years. On the other hand, for Britain the impact will be much worse, with the commission forecasting a 2.2 percent hit over the same two-year period, until the end of 2022. Gentiloni pointed out that the damage was nonetheless smaller than if the UK and EU had parted ways without a trade accord after a post-Brexit transition ended December 31. Thanks to the hard-won trade deal, the negative impact was reduced by "one-third for the EU and one-quarter for the UK", the former Italian prime minister told reporters in Brussels. arp/rmb/rl