All posts tagged imf

China: Tough Challenges Ahead in Shift to Consumption-Driven Economy

China faces a difficult task of rebalancing the economy towards a consumption-driven model.

Tom Orlik from WSJ reports that a more detailed look at China’s economic performance in 2012 shows it tipped further off balance, relying more than ever on credit-fueled investment, a trend it had tried to rein in.

A further tilt toward capital spending flies in the face of Beijing’s goals to shift to a consumption-driven economic model and threatens to add to a mounting debt problem, exacerbate industrial overcapacity that is dragging down profits, and produce more empty “ghost cities.”

India, China Slowdown Hitting Globe

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its forecast for global growth over the next two years.

It warned that Europe’s financial crisis and slower expansion in China and India have weakened the world economy.

According to a quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said it expected the world economy to expand 3.5 percent this year, slightly down from its previous estimate of 3.6 percent in April. The IMF also cut its forecast for global growth to 3.9 percent in 2013, from 4.1 percent three months ago. It also cut its U.S. growth forecast to 2 percent this year from its previous estimate in April of 2.1 percent.

Speaking in Washington, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said threats to the health of the global economy had increased, from the impact of the euro zone, as well as politics in the U.S.

“The main risk is obvious,” The Telegraph quoted him, as saying, adding:

IMF Scales Back Southeast Asia Growth Forecast

The International Monetary Fund has cut its forecast on the economic growth of five nations in Southeast Asia to better reflect faltering growth in the global economy. Monday’s assessment, released in a report by the IMF, was the latest development institution to announce an assessment after the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for next year.

The IMF cut the economic growth forecast for Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, which together are known as the Asean 5, to expand 6.1 percent in 2013, slightly lower that its earlier forecast of 6.2 percent. It cut the global economic outlook for growth to 3.9 percent next year, from its previous forecast of 4.1 percent.

Still, the IMF, which loaned billions of dollars to Thailand and Indonesia during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis with strict conditions, maintained the growth forecast for the year at 5.4 percent, unchanged from its forecast three months ago.

The Asian Century Report

All posts tagged imf

China: Tough Challenges Ahead in Shift to Consumption-Driven Economy

India, China Slowdown Hitting Globe

IMF Scales Back Southeast Asia Growth Forecast

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