The days of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regularly downgrading global economic growth are almost over, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the organization’s managing director.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the IMF chief told CNBC on Tuesday (January 17, 2023), “I don’t see a downgrade now, but growth in 2023 will slow down.”
“The good news though is that we expect growth to bottom out this year and 2024 to be a year in which we finally see the world economy on an upside,” she said.
Read: Economic woes, war, climate change on tap for Davos meeting
Since October 2021, the IMF has revised its growth projection three times.
Georgieva told CNBC that although inflation is dropping, it is “still quite high,” and that we are “not quite there yet” in terms of central banks possibly lowering interest rates.
She added that central banks must be careful “not to remove their foot off the brake too early”. The US inflation rate plummeted last week to its lowest level since October 2021, while inflation in the euro zone fell in December for a second consecutive month.
Read: Europe’s inflation slows again but cost of living still high
Georgieva also spoke on China, reiterating IMF predictions that the country’s GDP will expand but that it won’t contribute as much to global growth as in the past.
China will achieve the IMF’s projected growth of 4.4 percent by the end of the year if it continues with its present Covid-19 reform plan, she said.