New figures from the International Monetary Fund forecast that the UK economy is now expected to contract by 0.6% this year, having previously forecast slight growth of 0.5%. That’s the only contraction expected of all major and advanced economies – including Russia. The IMF cites energy prices, interest rate hikes, business borrowing costs and… taxes rises as the main factors for slowdown.

The ‘good’ news is the IMF has upped its forecast for 2024, now predicting 0.9% growth from 0.6%. It is also worth bearing in mind the IMF’s analysis isn’t gospel; it underestimated 2021’s growth by 2 points. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is doing his best to remind everyone of that:

“Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects — the U.K. outperformed many forecasts last year.”

He’s up in front of the 1922 Committee at 4:30pm this afternoon. Best of luck…