Coronavirus outbreaks, poor vaccine access, weak policy pushes IMF to downgrade global economic outlook

“Faultlines” in global economies caused by the coronavirus pandemic have persisted and recoveries have been “hobbled” by Delta variant outbreaks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said as it cut its worldwide growth forecast for the year.

Periodic coronavirus outbreaks, poor vaccine access and weak government policy support in certain parts of the world contributed to the IMF being forced to predict the global economy will grow by 5.9 per cent this year – down from a prediction of 6 per cent made in July. It did keep the forecast growth rate of 4.9 per cent in 2022 unchanged.