The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday kept its forecasts for limp economic growth this year and next largely unchanged.
The IMF forecast global growth of 3% for 2023 and 2.9% growth next year, a downward cut for 2024 of one-tenth. Global GDP growth was 3.5% in 2022.
“The global economy is limping along, not sprinting,” said the IMF in its world economic outlook.
It upgraded its stance on U.S. growth, by three-tenths this year and a half point next year, to 2.1% growth in 2023 and 1.5% growth in 2024. But the IMF cut estimates sharply for Saudi Arabia, which is trimming oil production, and also reduced growth estimates for Canada, Italy and a host of other countries.
The IMF cited three global forces at play: the recovery in services from the pandemic is almost complete; tighter monetary policy to bring down inflation is starting to bite; and inflation and activity have been shaped by last year’s commodity price shock.
