Yet the economic outlook has deteriorated sharply since then — not least because of the market turmoil unleashed by Truss’ now-abandoned plan to slash taxes as soon as possible and boost government borrowing.“The heightened political and economic uncertainty has caused business activity to fall at a rate not seen since the global financial crisis in 2009, if pandemic lockdown months are excluded,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.“We need a credible plan to ensure that government debt can be expected to fall over the medium-term.”Although one top Bank of England official indicated last week that investors may be pricing in too many interest rate hikes, the central bank is expected to remain tough in the near-term in its campaign to get inflation under control.The picture of the United Kingdom’s financial position also darkened with the release of data on Friday showing that Britain’s government borrowed a net £20 billion ($22 billion) in September, £5.2 billion ($5.7 billion) more than the country’s fiscal watchdog had expected.Last week, Hunt — just days into the job himself — announced the rollback of almost all tax cuts in Truss’ original “growth plan,” which had been rejected by investors."