The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday lowered its global economic growth forecast to 3.4 percent this year, and expected the global growth could be weaker for longer due to weakness in advanced and emerging markets.
In its updated economic outlook, the IMF de-rated the global growth by 0.3 percentage point from its April estimate. The global lender applied new 2011 purchasing power parity benchmarks to calculate and compare the forecasts in April and July. As a result, its April forecast was lifted by 0.1 percentage point to 3.7 percent.
The downgrade reflected the legacy of the weak first quarter, particularly in the United States, and a less optimistic outlook for several emerging markets, the IMF said.
Global growth could be weaker for longer, given the lack of robust momentum in advanced economies and the negative growth effects in emerging economies, it said.