The global economic outlook has “worsened significantly” since the start of the year, largely because of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
The IMF projected that global economic growth would slow from an estimated 6.1% last year to 3.6% this year, down 0.8 percentage points compared with the January forecast for 2022. The IMF also downgraded its outlook for the United States economy, cutting projected growth from 4% to 3.7% for this year and from 2.6% to 2.3% for 2023. It said that factors besides the war contributed to its lowered projections, including for the United States: “The forecast for the United States was already downgraded in January, largely reflecting non-passage of the Build Back Better fiscal policy package and continued supply chain disruptions. The additional 0.3 percentage point forecast markdown for 2022 in the current round reflects faster withdrawal of monetary support than in the previous projection—as policy tightens to rein in inflation—and the impact of lower growth in trading partners because of disruptions resulting from the war.”