April 11 (Reuters) - Britain now looks set for a
shallower economic hit this year than previously thought but
remains on course to suffer the sharpest contraction among the
world's big, advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund
said on Tuesday.
British gross domestic product will contract by 0.3% in
2023, the IMF said in its latest set of global forecasts, a
smaller shrinkage than the 0.6% contraction the Fund predicted
in January.
Britain is no longer the only Group of Seven economy set for
a fall in GDP this year as Germany is now expected to shrink by
0.1%, the IMF forecasts also showed.
After narrowly avoiding recession in 2022, Britain's economy
has shown some signs of resilience in early 2023. The Bank of
England says it expects slight growth in the second quarter
after a small contraction in the first three months of the year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and finance minister Jeremy Hunt
are under pressure to get Britain's economy growing more quickly
before an election expected next year but so far they have
defied pressure from within their Conservative Party to cut
taxes, saying they are focused primarily on lowering inflation.
The IMF forecast Britain's inflation would average 6.8% in
2023, down from 9.1% in 2022 but still way above the BoE's 2%
target and the highest among the G7 countries.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Reuters Messaging: william.schomberg.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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