A man walks past an electronic quotation board displaying the closing numbers of share prices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on April 5, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP)
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund chief said on Thursday the world economy is expected to grow less than 3% in 2023, down from 3.4% last year, increasing the risk of hunger and poverty globally.
Kristalina Georgieva said growth is expected to remain around 3% for the next five years, calling it "our lowest medium-term growth forecast since 1990, and well below the average of 3.8% from the past two decades.”
She said slower growth would be a "severe blow," making it even harder for low-income nations to catch up.
A customer shops at an outdoor fruits and vegetables market in Toulouse, southwestern France on March 5, 2023. (Photo by Charly Triballeau / AFP)
"Poverty and hunger could further increase, a dangerous trend that was started by the COVID crisis,” she said.
Georgieva’s comments at a Meridian-Politico event come ahead of next week’s spring meetings of the IMF and its sister lending agency the World Bank in Washington, where policymakers will convene to discuss the global economy’s most pressing issues.
The annual gathering will take place as central banks around the world continue to raise interest rates to tame persistent inflation and an ongoing debt crisis in emerging economies pushes debt burdens higher, preventing nations from growing.
The IMF head said persistently high interest rates, a series of bank failures in the U.S. and Europe, and deepening geopolitical divisions are threatening global financial stability.
