Recession will hit one-third of the world this year: IMF chief

Washington: One third of the global economy will be facing recession this year, the IMF chief has said, and warned that 2023 will be tougher than last year as the US, EU and China will see their economies slow down. Kristalina Georgieva, the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made these grim assertions on Sunday during a CBS news programme "Face the Nation."

It 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.

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

'2023 will be tougher than last year due to economic slowdown'

"The year 2023 will be tougher than last year because the economies of the US, the EU and China will slow down," she said.

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

In October last year, the IMF trimmed its growth forecast for 2023.

IMF projects 6.8 % growth in current fiscal for India

'Global growth to come down to 2.7% in 2023'

"Global growth is forecast to slow from six percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent 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.

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