It held its forecast for global growth at the same 3.1% level as outlined in October, and said it continued to expect it to rise to 3.4% in 2017 and 3.6% in 2018 in its World Economic Outlook Update published Monday.
Despite the economic outlook looking to pick up in the next two years, the IMF said there was “uncertainty surrounding the policy stance of the incoming U.S. administration and its global ramifications” which meant it would leave their current forecasts as they were.
However, the IMF did revise its 2017 projections up for individual countries such as Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK due to stronger than expected performance in the latter half of 2016, and added the US economy, if given fiscal stimulus, could grow by as much as 2.3% this year.
The Chinese economy has seen its growth forecast revised up 0.3% to 6.5% in 2017, but the IMF did warn a reliance on policy stimulus, rapid extension of credit and slow progress in addressing corporate debt “raises the risk of a sharper slowdown or a disruptive adjustment”.
