Lukmon Oloyede.
Latest World Economic Outlook report by the IMF estimates the global economy grew 3.1 percent last year, the weakest pace since the 2009 recession. Growth in emerging markets and developing nations slowed for the fifth straight year.
IMF researchers left their estimate for China’s growth this year unchanged at 6.3 percent.
READ ALSO Red Star Express Plc gets SON’s Quality Management System re-certification
Brazil, Russia and Saudi Arabia have been badly affected by the falling oil price, which has crashed further since the IMF updated the WEO. The forecasts assume an oil price of almost $42 a barrel in 2016, substantially higher than Monday’s level of about $28.
“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,” IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said in a fund article accompanying the forecast.
In emerging markets, policy makers need to “rebuild resilience against potential shocks while lifting growth,” the IMF said.
