IMF cuts global growth outlook amid trade tensions, Brexit worries
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2019 and said growth could slow further due to trade tensions and a potentially disorderly British exit from the European Union.
The global lender said some major economies, including China and Germany, might need to take short-term actions to prop up growth and that a severe downturn could require coordinated stimulus measures.
The global lender said it still expects that a sharp slowdown in Europe and some emerging market economies will give way to a general re-acceleration in the second half of 2019.
But chances of further cuts to the outlook are high, the Fund said in its World Economic Outlook report. The IMF and World Bank are holding their spring meetings in Washington this week.
