The IMF says the worst is yet to come – and for once, I agree

In Britain, there is considerable confusion and this will continue through the autumn and winter, writes Hamish McRae

However, the plight of the UK is only one element of the wider troubles in the markets (Reuters)

The world economy is taking a beating, and things will get worse before they get better. More or less wherever you look, the news is glum, and the problem, as always at a moment like this, is to sort out what is really new and important and what is just the usual noise.

There is, however, no question that this sour mood increases the chances of a global recession in the coming months, and we have to deal with the world as it is rather than as we might wish it to be.

The mood was summed up in a paper by the Brookings Institution, the respected Washington think tank, in a briefing paper that caught the feeling of general despair. “A series of self-inflicted wounds,” it said, “ranging from China’s zero-Covid policy to the United Kingdom’s fiscal recklessness, piled on top of persistent supply chain disruptions and the protracted war in Ukraine, have severely constricted space for policy manoeuvre.”