Blame the trade war for lower growth forecasts, says IMF
The new forecasts show that a burst of strong growth, fuelled partly by US tax cuts and rising demand for imports, has begun to wane
Nusa Dua — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019, saying that the US-China trade war was taking a toll and emerging markets were struggling with tighter liquidity and capital outflows. The new forecasts, released on the Indonesian resort island of Bali where the IMF and World Bank annual meetings are getting under way, show that a burst of strong growth, fuelled partly by US tax cuts and rising demand for imports, was starting to wane. The IMF said in an update to its World Economic Outlook that it was now predicting 3.7% global growth in both 2018 and 2019, down from its July forecast of 3.9% growth for both years. The downgrade reflects a confluence of factors, including the introduction of import tariffs between the US and China; weaker performances by eurozone countries, Britain and Japan; and rising interest rates that are pressuring some emerging markets with capital outflows, notably Argentina, Brazil, Turk...
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