LONDON, June 6 (KUNA) -- British Chancellor, Finance secretary, George Osborne dismissed calls for a rethink of the coalition's deficit reduction strategy Monday, insisting it was the "rock" on which Britain's economic recovery was being built.

The Chancellor said critics should "join the dots" and recognise that a spike in oil prices and problems in the Eurozone were causing "choppy" conditions for the UK.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he delivered a strong hint that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will endorse his approach when it reports later.

But Osborne also stressed that there was "flexibility" built into his economic plans.

Signs of stalling growth over recent months have fuelled demands for the Government to show it has a "Plan B" rather than pushing ahead with public spending cuts.

Yesterday, a group of left-leaning academics warned that the pace of the cuts was self-defeating, and the country faced the prospect of "a lot more pain and a lot less gain" unless the policy changed.

However, Osborne denied that all the economic data had been bad.

"Actually we have seen employment rising, we have seen unemployment falling over the last year," he said.

The Chancellor accused the media of focusing on a "few hundred jobs" being lost here and there.

"We can talk about talking the economy down," he said.

"I have listened to the news bulletins on your programme over the last year... every time there is an unfortunate loss of jobs somewhere, a few hundred jobs, it is in the news bulletin.

"I have not yet heard a single bulletin that says 400,000 jobs have been created over the last year. That just doesn't appear in the news.

"What I am asking for is a bit of balance in the way we look at the British economy." Osborne pointed to the effects of high oil prices and the financial crisis in the eurozone, where countries such as Greece have had to be bailed out by counterparts.

"I think we just need to join the dots here," he said.

"Of course I would like more growth. The economy is growing, jobs are being created. We would like the economy to grow even further, we would like more jobs to be created.

"But the rock upon which the stability of the British economy rests at the moment is our credible fiscal plan.

"Later today we will get the verdict of the IMF... we are going to hear later on what their verdict is on the policies we are pursuing." Asked whether the influential body was going to renew its support for the coalition's approach, the Chancellor replied "I'm not going to speak for them." Osborne said there was "flexibility built into" the deficit reduction plan he announced last year.

So-called "automatic stabilisers" mean elements of spending such as benefits could rise in response to lower growth.

"There is an assumption of either you don't do any cutting at all, or there is my plan," he said.

Osborne also appeared to suggest that there was wriggle room in the Government's timing for hitting its deficit reduction targets.

"We are also planning at the moment to meet our mandate a year earlier," he said. In contrast with some other countries, Britain was managing to follow through on its plans for stabilising the economy, according to the Chancellor.

"Yes, there are difficult and challenging circumstances and, yes, we had a difficult and awful economic inheritance but I think the plans we have put in place are providing the stability and confidence and foundation for growth that will give Britain the prosperous future we all want to see," he added.