UK economy to shrink by 8% in 2020, forecasters say

EY Item Club further downgrades UK economic prospects with full recovery unlikely until 2023

The British economy will shrink by 8% this year and is unlikely to recover from the damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis until 2023, according to a leading economic forecaster.

After official figures showed Britain's economy shrank by a record 20.4% in April - putting the country on course for the worst recession in more than three centuries - the EY Item Club was moved to produce its first interim report between two quarterly updates to reflect the deteriorating outlook.