The International Monetary Fund issued a warning on Tuesday that the global economy is slowing down as a result of rising interest rates, the protracted conflict in Ukraine, and escalating geopolitical tensions.
According to the IMF, from an anticipated 3% this year, global economic growth would decrease to 2.9% in 2024.
From the 3% expected back in July, the prediction for the next year has been revised downward.
The slowdown occurs just as the world is beginning to recover from the devastating but brief COVID-19 recession in 2020.
A series of shocks, including the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has slashed worldwide economic output by about $3.7 trillion over the past three years compared with pre-COVID trends.
“We see a global economy that is limping along,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters ahead of the IMF and World Bank’s fall meetings this week in Marrakech, Morocco.
The IMF expectation of 3% growth this year is down from 3.5% in 2022 but unchanged from its July projections. The news isn’t all bad.
The world economy has displayed “remarkable resilience,” Gourinchas said, at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide have aggressively raised interest rates to combat a resurgence in inflation.
The hikes have helped ease price pressures without putting many people out of work.
