adminWASHINGTON. — The International Monetary Fund yesterday lowered its growth forecast for the global economy and warned the outlook could get bleaker if the US political standoff over finances drags on. The IMF shaved its 2013 growth forecast by 0.3 percentage point to 2.9 percent and its 2014 forecast by 0.2 point to 3.6 percent.
Four years after the Great Recession ended, “global growth remains in low gear,” the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.
The report sets the basis for discussions at the annual IMF/World Bank meetings later this week, and marks revisions from the Fund’s July forecasts.
Advanced economies, in particular the United States, are showing signs of pick-up, while emerging-market economies, although still accounting for most global growth, are losing more momentum than previously thought, the IMF said. “Global growth is still weak, its underlying dynamics are changing, and the risks to the forecast remain to the downside,” the global lender said. — AFP.
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