IMF Global Economy Downward Forecast Confirms Nigeria As Worst Victim

Posted by African Examiner Business News, Government Buz, Latest Headlines Tuesday, April 12th, 2016

Again, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reviewed its forecasts for the world economy, with Nigeria considered mostly affected.

The agency’s latest World Economic outlook predicts global growth of 3.2 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent in 2017.

While launching the report, IMF’s chief Economist, Maurice Obstfeld, described the pace of growth as “increasingly disappointing”.

The downgrades report titled: “Too slow for too long”, Obstfeld affirmed would signal a widespread slowdown across all types of economies, adding that the trend would expose the world economy more to negative risks.

Prior to the latest downgrade, IMF had expected global growth of 3.4 and 3.6 per cents in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

According to IMF, the largest downgrade is for Nigeria, which it noted has been hit by the crumble crude oil price, while, Brazil, Russia and many others are expected to experience weaker performance than previously anticipated.

IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde has previously described the present state of global economy as “the new mediocre”.

Consequently, the world financial agency warned against the risks that could lead to results, worse than the main forecast.

However, India’s forecast, is intact and there is an upgrade record for China, reflecting strong growth in the services sector and offsetting weakness in manufacturing.