The global economy has entered a “dangerous new phase” of sharply lower growth, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The organisation warned that continuing political and economic woes in the US and eurozone could force them back into recession.
The IMF says the prognosis for economies in the developed world is “weak and bumpy expansion”.
It predicts their GDP will expand “at an anaemic pace of 1.5% in 2011”.
The IMF believes global growth will shrink to 4% in 2012, from 5% last year, on factors such as “major financial turbulence in the eurozone”.
It slashed its growth projections for the 17-nation eurozone to 1.6% in 2011, down from 2% predicted in June. Next year growth will be 1.1%, down from 1.7%, it forecast.
The US – the world’s largest economy – is likely to have weak growth “for years to come”.
And the UK, the growth forecast for 2011 has also been revised downwards, from 1.5% to 1.1%, while the forecast for 2012 was cut to 1.6%, from 2.3%. (BBC)
