Economics
IMF Cuts Global Growth Forecast Again as ‘Missteps’ Fuel Concern
- Projected rebound ‘precarious,’ with trade policies uncertain
- U.S. 2019 estimate raised after first-quarter GDP surprise
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The International Monetary Fund further reduced its global growth outlook, already the lowest since the financial crisis, and suggested that policy “missteps” on trade and Brexit could derail a projected rebound.
The world economy will expand 3.2% this year and 3.5% next year, both down 0.1 percentage point from April projections, the fund said in its latest quarterly World Economic Outlook released Tuesday in Washington. A rate of 3.3% or lower would be the weakest since 2009. The IMF also slashed expectations for growth in the global volume of trade in goods and services, reducing its estimate by 0.9 point to 2.5% in 2019.