IMF keeps 2023 global growth outlook unchanged

The IMF has left its top-line global growth forecast for 2023 unchanged, despite significant underlying differences between regions, while lifting its inflation outlook for the next couple of years.

The updated World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, released as the International Monetary Fund holds its annual meetings in Marrakesh, maintains a global growth estimate of 3.0 percent for this year while cutting the 2024 assessment to 2.9 percent, down 0.1 percent from the previous forecast in July.

Inflation, which has fallen sharply since last year, is predicted to remain elevated at 6.9 percent this year, up slightly from July, and 5.8 percent in 2024, up 0.6 percentage points.

Higher inflation could force central banks to keep interest rates higher for longer, which would likely have a knock-on effect for global growth.

The global economy has shown “remarkable” resilience as it continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, the IMF said in the WEO.

However, the report also noted that “growth remains slow and uneven, with growing global divergences.”

“The global economy is limping along, not sprinting,” it warned.