FT | Slouching toward Davos
The International Monetary Fund slashed its forecasts for the world economy on Wednesday, saying that global growth would come almost to a standstill and that losses from US financial assets would top $2,000bn. The IMF cut its 2009 global growth projection to just 0.5 per cent, a huge downward revision from its previous 2.2 per cent forecast made in November. "We now expect the global economy to come to a virtual halt," said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF's chief economist. The rich economies in particular were likely to suffer the sharpest recession since the second world war, the IMF said.
