The IMF slashes its global growth outlook to the lowest since the financial crisis

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde delivers a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, U.S., April 2, 2019.

• The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global growth outlook for the third time in six months, citing concerning macroeconomic factors in developed and emerging countries.
• The IMF sees global economic growth of 3.3% this year, down from the 3.5% its forecast in January amid Brexit-related uncertainties and US-China trade tensions.
• That projected growth rate would reflect the weakest since 2009.
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The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global growth outlook for the third time in six months, to the weakest pace since the global financial crisis, pointing to Brexit-related uncertainties and trade tensions between the US and China as fueling its downgrade.

The IMF projects global economic growth of 3.3% this year, down from the 3.5% it saw back in January.

"Although a 3.3 percent global expansion is still reasonable, the outlook for many countries is very challenging, with considerable uncertainties in the short term, especially as advanced economy growth rates converge toward their modest long-term potential," the IMF said in its report.

Improvements to the global growth picture are expected in the second half of this year, the IMF said, and global growth is expected to return to 3.6% in 2020 - but that resumption hinges on a rebound in some emerging-market economies.

"This return is predicated on a rebound in Argentina and Turkey and some improvement in a set of other stressed emerging market and developing economies, and therefore subject to considerable uncertainty," the IMF said in its sweeping report.

In October, the IMF had lowered its 2018 and 2019 economic growth projections, pointing to a sweeping adverse impact from the US-China trade war.

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