Money Matters: 2023 Will Be Tougher Than 2022, IMF Chief Warns. Top Points

Global Recession Latest Update: IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva explained that even in countries that are not in recession, it would feel like a recession for hundreds of millions of people.

Global Recession Latest Update: IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva on Sunday said that a third of the global economy will be in recession this year and warned that 2023 will be ‘tougher’ than last year as the US, EU (European Union) and China will see their economies slow down. The IMF chief made these grim assertions during a CBS news programme Face the Nation.

“We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession,” Kristalina Georgieva said on the news programme.

The statement from the IMF chief comes at a time when the ongoing conflict in Ukraine shows no signs of abating after more than 10 months, with spiralling inflation, higher interest rates and the surge in coronavirus infections in China fuelled by the Omicron variant.

She further added that 2023 will be tougher than last year because the economies of the US, the EU and China will slow down.

“Even in countries that are not in recession, it would feel like a recession for hundreds of millions of people,” she explained.

The IMF in October last year had trimmed the growth forecast for 2023.

“Global growth is forecast to slow from 6 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023. This is the weakest growth profile since 2001 except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.

China has scrapped its zero Covid policy and opened its economy following a wave of anti-government protests in the country.

“For the next couple of months, it would be tough for China, and the impact on Chinese growth would be negative, the impact on the region will be negative, the impact on global growth will be negative,” she added.

(With inputs from PTI)