Britain the only G7 economy forecast to shrink in 2023

Shoppers on the high street in Southend-on-Sea. The IMF says 2023 will be ‘challenging’ for the UK as it slips to the bottom of the G7 league table. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Britain is expected to be the only major industrialised country to see its economy shrink this year after the impact of Liz Truss’s brief premiership prompted a sharp growth downgrade from the International Monetary Fund.

Adding to growing political pressure on Rishi Sunak after the sacking of the Conservative party chair Nadhim Zahawi, the Washington-based IMF warned on Tuesday it expected the UK economy to contract by 0.6% this year – 0.9 percentage points worse than it had pencilled in just three months ago and slower even than sanctions-hit Russia.