IMF warns on global economic growth and new age of uncertainty

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of slower economic growth to come – and urged policy-makers to do more to reduce inflation. 

THe IMF is to lower its growth forecast from its previous estimate of 2.9% next week, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned in a speech this week. 

Georgieva warned : “We are experiencing a fundamental shift in the global economy.”

IMF: ‘Age of uncertainty’

In a speech before the Fund’s annual meeting next week, she warned that the world was moving from a period of “relative predictability” into a period of  “greater uncertainty, higher economic volatility, geopolitical confrontations, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters – a world in which any country can be thrown off course more easily and more often”.

She warned that tensions over energy, the Ukraine war and the climate crisis were weighing on global growth. 

Risk of recession rising

She said, “As you will see in our updated World Economic Outlook next week, we will downgrade growth for next year. And we will flag that the risks of recession are rising.”

She urged banks to “stay the course to bring down inflation”, amid calls from analysts and economists for central banks to slow interest rate rises. 

She said, “Our world economy is like a ship in choppy waters. In less than three years, we lived through shock after shock after shock.”