Finance officials facing a chronically weak global economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — World finance officials who meet in Washington this week confront a bleak picture: Eight years after the financial crisis erupted, the global economy remains fragile and at risk of another recession.
"Growth has been too slow for too long," Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned on the eve of the spring meetings of the IMF, the World Bank and the Group of 20 major economies Thursday through Saturday.
The IMF today downgraded its outlook for growth for most regions and for the global economy as a whole. It now foresees a weaker financial landscape than it did in January. Like the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the IMF has repeatedly overestimated the strength of the world economy in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Problems span the globe. China's sharp slowdown has hurt commodity-exporting countries by driving down demand for everything from iron ore to coal. Prices of raw materials have sunk as a result.