The International Monetary Fund sharply lowers its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage from the coronavirus than it did just two months ago. The IMF predicts the global economy will shrink 4.9%.
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2020, file photo, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, attends a session on the first day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage from the coronavirus than it did just two months ago.
For the United States, the IMF predicts that the nation’s gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced in the United States — will plummet 8% this year, even more than its April estimate of a 5.9% drop. This, too, would be the worst such annual decline since the U.S. economy demobilized in the aftermath of World War II.The IMF issued its bleaker forecasts Wednesday in an update to the World Economic Outlook it released in April.
For 2021, the IMF envisions a rebound in growth, so long as the viral pandemic doesn’t erupt in a second major wave. It expects the global economy to expand 5.4% next year, 0.4 percentage point less than it did in April. In its updated forecast, the IMF downgraded growth for all major countries. For the 19 European nations that use the euro currency, it envisions a decline in growth this year of 10.7% — more than the 8% drop it predicted in April — followed by a rebound to growth of 6% in 2021.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
AP-NORC poll: Politics drive divergent view of US economyWASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' outlook on the national economy has improved somewhat from its lowest points during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, but a new poll suggests Democrats and...
Read more »
How New York's Coronavirus Response Made the Pandemic Worse - The Journal. - WSJ PodcastsAs several states face new outbreaks of coronavirus, WSJ's Shalini Ramachandran looks back at what went wrong with the response in one of the virus's first epicenters - New York City.
Read more »
Global Economy Shows Signs of Pulling Out of Its SlumpThe global economy is gradually starting to pull out of its stall as lockdowns ease, according to surveys of purchasing managers, with output contracting at a slower pace in much of Europe and Asia this month, and in some instances expanding.
Read more »