[230116.EN.BIZ] IMF Downgrades 2016 Global Growth Forecast 3.6pc to 3.4pc In Update

THE International Monetary Fund's (IMF) quarterly World Economic Outlook update states that the global economy will grow 3.4 per cent this year, down from its October projection of 3.6 per cent.

The IMF has joined the chorus of analysts and economists projecting gloom and doom for the worldwide economy in the coming year, reports American Shipper.

Concerns over a slump in commodity prices, which has fallen to 12-year lows in recent weeks, an economic slowdown in China and recession in Brazil have taken their toll on financial markets in early 2016 and there looks to be little relief in sight.

So far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, two of the leading US stock market indicators, are off to their worst start ever, down around 9.5 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

Transport and logistics stocks have fared even worse early in 2016. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, a US stock market index that calculates the running average of the share prices of 20 major shipping companies and the most widely recognised gauge of the American transportation sector, has fallen 11.76 per cent year-to-date.

"This coming year is going to be a year of great challenges and policy makers should be thinking about short-term resilience and the ways they can bolster it, but also about the longer-term growth prospects," said IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld.

The IMF estimates the global economy grew 3.1 per cent last year, the slowest rate since the height of the global recession in 2009. Growth in emerging markets and developing nations slowed for the fifth straight year, according to the report.

Source : HKSG.