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Britain is £490 billion poorer than everyone thought.

The Office for National Statistics has revised its assessment of the country's accounts, and decided Britain has overestimated its international assets.

And we owe far more to foreign investors than previously thought.

Overall it amounts a quarter of the UK's Gross Domestic Product.

It comes just six weeks ahead of Philip Hammond's first Autumn budget - and Treasury officials are reportedly braced for "gloomy" forecasts.

(Image: PA)

What could you buy with £490 billion? Freddos 1.63 trillion Wayne Rooney's salary ...for 31,410 years Royal yachts 4,900

The ONS says the UK's stock of wealth - much of which is in international investments - has collapsed from a surplus of £469 billion to a net deficit of £22 billion.

"Half a trillion pounds has gone missing," Mark Capleton, the UK rates strategist at Bank of America told the Telegraph.

The mind-boggling shrinkage of Britain's wealth leaves Britain with no reserve of foreign assets to help protect against Brexit.

It comes as the Chancellor is under increasing pressure to demonstrate how the country would deal with the increasingly likely prospect of a 'no-deal' Brexit.

It's thought crashing out of the EU without a deal could cause GDP to retract by a further 7.8% - and it would be increasingly difficult for the government to defend against a run on the pound.