HONG KONG – The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held their Spring Meetings in Washington this month amid growing fears of a prolonged worldwide recession and following a series of reports predicting that global economic growth will continue to slow.
Earlier in April, a World Bank book estimated that global GDP growth will fall below 2% this year and increase to 3% in 2024, before weakening to 2.2% by 2030, down sharply from the 3.5% average rate in the 2000s. The Bank foresees a “prolonged period of weakness” for the global economy following further declines in investment and productivity.
