IMF Slightly Lowers Global Growth Forecast

Washington: The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its global economic growth forecast slightly to 5.9% from 6% for this year in its latest World Economic Outlook, warning that ongoing pandemic is widening divergence between countries with access to adequate supplies of covid-19 vaccine and those without.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rise in debt, while also causing disruptions to global supply chains which has led to inflationary pressure especially on food and fuel, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said Tuesday as the organization’s Annual Meetings kicked off in Washington.
 
"The global recovery continues but the momentum has weakened, hobbled by the pandemic. Fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, you will recall that the global COVID?19 death?toll has risen close to 5 million and risks abound, holding back a full return to normalcy. Pandemic outbreaks and critical links of global supply chains have resulted in longer?than?expected supply disruptions, feeding inflation in many countries," said Gopinath. 

"On the one hand, pandemic outbreaks and climate disruptions have resulted in shortages of key inputs and lowered manufacturing activity in several countries. On the other hand, these supply shortages, alongside the release of pent?up demand and the rebound in commodity prices, have caused consumer price inflation to increase rapidly in many countries," Gopinath added at virtual news conference.
 
Gopinath re-asserted that the IMF researchers do not play politics with their work, following reports that its current Managing Director may have improperly applied pressure to change findings in a key report while overseeing it at the World Bank.
 
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva received full and unanimous support by the Executive Board on Monday night which she claimed that exonerated her of any wrongdoing.
 
"In the case of the IMF, we take data integrity incredibly seriously, which is why we have many processes in place to make sure that our data and focus are completely reviewed carefully by multiple departments and multiple economists. As always, with any institution, including the IMF, we are constantly working to ensure the highest standards for our data and for our research and our analytical work. As a part of that, we have ongoing reviews all the time, and we will continue to do so," Gopinath assured.   
 
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