World Bank Downgrades Global Growth

Bad weather in the U.S., the crisis in Ukraine, rebalancing in China and the anticipated rise in interest rates will hit global growth this year, according to the World Bank, which has urged countries to continue urgent reforms.

The Washington-based organization, a United Nations agency which provides loans to developing countries, has downgraded its global growth estimates for this year to 2.8 percent, from a January forecast of 3.2 percent.

“We are not totally out of the woods yet,” Kaushik Basu, the bank’s senior vice president and chief economist, said in a press release.

“A gradual tightening of fiscal policy and structural reforms are desirable to restore fiscal space depleted by the 2008 financial crisis. In brief, now is the time to prepare for the next crisis.”
Developing countries singled out for special attention included Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, and South Africa. The bank urged these countries to tighten fiscal policy and reinvigorate structural reforms.

Growth for developing countries is now eyed at 4.8 percent this year, down from its January estimate of 5.3 percent, it said.

China is expected to grow by 7.6 percent this year, it added, but said this would depend on the success of rebalancing efforts by its government and predicted wide “reverberations across Asia” if a feared hard landing occurred.

via CNBC

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