Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The International Monetary Fund has cut its global growth forecast once again, pointing to the difficulties of the Eurozone and the United States, creating waves of poverty in other countries. A few days after its annual meeting in the Japanese capital, where it presented its "World Economic Outlook", the IMF forecasts global growth of 3.3% this year, the lowest since 2009 and 3.6% for 2013. Only in July, it had predicted growth of 3.5% this year and 3.9% next year. But the IMF says that the risk of further deterioration - even less than 2% - are "alarmingly high."
According to the IMF everything depends on how Europe and the United States react. In Europe, it stresses the importance of integrated spending and fiscal policies among euro zone countries, as well the increasingly urgent need for the creation of a union-wide bank.
The United States must solve its fiscal problem and raise the debt ceiling. According to the IMF, if this does not happen, the U.S. is at risk of recession.
The fall in growth is also problematic for emerging countries, affected by the difficulties in Europe and the United States (fall in exports), as well as internal difficulties. The forecast is for a drastic reduction in the growth for Brazil, 1.5% this year (in July the forecast was 2.5) and 4% in 2013. India could grow by 4.9% and 6% next year (previously the figures were 6.2 and 6.6). The estimates for China are down 0.2%, reaching 7.8% in 2012 and 8.2 in 2013.
Another risk for the global economy could result from an increase in oil prices. The IMF forecasts that the price of crude oil will be around 106.18 per barrel this year and 105.10 in 2013.
