By Daniel Avis

WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) slightly lowered its outlook for the global economy on Tuesday (11), while predicting that most countries will avoid a recession this year despite economic worries and geopolitical tension.

Concerns over high inflation, rising geopolitical tension and financial stability all hang over the updated forecasts, with the impact of the war in Ukraine continuing to dampen growth and drive up consumer prices in many countries.

Persistent economic concerns could overshadow plans by the IMF and World Bank to promote an ambitious reform and fundraising agenda at this year’s spring meetings.

In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, the IMF predicts the global economy will grow by 2.8% this year and 3% in 2024, a decline of 0.1 percentage point from its forecasts in January.

The IMF’s forecasts for the United States were slightly rosier: the world’s largest economy was expected to grow by 1.6% in 2023, marginally higher than the previous forecast.

“The global economy remains on track for a gradual recovery from the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told a press conference Tuesday, adding that “the massive and synchronized tightening of monetary policy by most central banks” had begun to bring inflation back towards its target.

“At the same time, serious financial stability related downside risks have emerged,” he said, referring to the banking turmoil unleashed last month after the dramatic collapse of Californian high-tech lender Silicon Valley Bank.

– Advanced economies drag down growth –

The overall picture painted by the WEO is gloomy, with global growth forecast to slow in both the short and medium terms.

Close to 90% of advanced economies will experience slowing growth this year, while Asia’s emerging markets are expected to see a substantial rise in economic output — with India and China predicted to account for half of all growth, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said last week.

Low-income countries, meanwhile, are expected to suffer a double shock from higher borrowing costs due to high interest rates, and a decline in demand for their exports, Georgieva said. This could worsen poverty and hunger.

The IMF expects global inflation to slow to seven percent this year, down from 8.7% last year, according to the WEO forecasts. It is then expected to fall to 4.9% in 2024.

Both 2023 and 2024 inflation forecasts were revised upwards, and remain significantly above the two percent target set by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world, suggesting policymakers have a long way to go before inflation is brought back under control.

– Germany on brink of recession – 

While the picture is one of slowing growth, almost all advanced economies are still expected to avoid a recession this year and next.

Alongside growth in the United States, the Euro area is also forecast to grow by 0.8% this year, and 1.4% next year — led by Spain, which will see 1.5% growth in 2023 and 2%  growth in 2024.

But the area’s biggest economy, Germany, is now expected to contract by 0.1% this year, joining the United Kingdom, the only other G7 country expected to enter recession in 2023.

The picture is more positive among emerging market economies, with China forecast to grow by 5.2% this year. But its growth is predicted to slow to 4.5% in 2024, as the impact of its reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic fades.

India’s economic forecast has been downgraded compared to January, but it is still predicted to grow by 5.9% this year and 6.3% in 2024, providing some much-needed stimulus to the global economy.

And Russia is now expected to grow by 0.7% this year, up 0.3 percentage point on January’s forecast, despite its invasion of Ukraine.

– Poor productivity saps outlook –

Looking forward, the IMF forecasts that global growth will fall to three percent in 2028, its lowest medium-term forecast since the 1990s.

Slowing population growth and the end of the era of economic catch-up by several countries including China and South Korea are a large part of the expected slowdown, as are concerns about low productivity in many countries, according to Daniel Leigh, who heads the World Economic Studies division in the IMF’s Research Department.

“A lot of the low hanging fruit was picked,” he told reporters ahead of the publication of the World Economic Outlook.

“On top of that now, with the geopolitical tensions and fragmentation, this is going to also weigh on growth,” he said.

-Agence France-Presse