The International Monetary Fund has cut its global growth forecast for 2016 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.4% on concerns over China’s economic transition and issues facing emerging markets around the globe, The Wall Street Journal reported. The fund set its forecast for China’s economic growth at 6.3% for 2016 and 6% in 2017, down from 6.9% in 2015. The IMF rates – lower than China’s official forecasts – assume Beijing will boost growth using monetary and fiscal policy while reining in the country’s financial sector. IMF Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld said he’d seen no changes in China’s economic fundamentals, but noted that investors “are very spooked by small events there that they find hard to interpret.”
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