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IMF Cuts Growth Forecasts As Trade Tensions Bite
The International Monetary Fund downgraded its 2019 global growth forecast to 3%, the slowest since the global financial crisis, in the face of what it described as a "synchronized slowdown" prompted by rising trade barriers and uncertainty, as well as low productivity growth in the rich world. In its October World Economic Outlook, the IMF also cut its growth forecast for 2020 by 0.2 percentage point to 3.4%, noting that next year's improved performance would not be "broad based and is precarious," with advanced economy growth stuck at 1.7%. Its forecast for this year was reduced by 0.3 percentage point ... (full story)