The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its forecast for the global growth by estimating that the international economy will grow at 3.4 percent this year.
The new estimate comes as new figures from on China showed that the country’s economy grew at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century in 2015. This has now added to concerns about the health of the global economy.
The IMF has cited a sharp slowdown in China trade and weak commodity prices which it says are in turn hammering Brazil and other emerging markets, Reuters reported.
The Fund has further forecast that the world economy would grow at 3.6 percent in 2017, adding that in both 2016 and 2017 there will be a decline of about 0.2 percentage point from the previous estimates.
The IMF has emphasized that policymakers should consider ways to bolster short-term demand, Reuters added. It has further warned that recovery from the financial crisis could be derailed altogether if key challenges are mishandled.
The updated forecasts came as global financial markets have been roiled by worries over China’s slowdown — confirmed by official Chinese data on Tuesday – and plummeting oil prices, added the report.
China reported that growth for 2015 hit 6.9 percent after a year in which the world’s second biggest economy endured huge capital outflows, a slide in the currency and a summer stock market crash.
Concerns about Beijing’s grip on economic policy have shot to the top of global investors’ risk list for 2016 after falls in its stock markets and the yuan stoked worries that the economy may be rapidly deteriorating.
The Fund said a steeper slowing of demand in China remained a risk to global growth and that weaker-than-expected Chinese imports and exports were weighing heavily on other emerging markets and commodity exporters. – Press TV.
