IMF

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Asia is still expected to lead global growth, but the pace is slowing with a risk of possibly sagging further because of recent financial market volatility.

Speaking Tuesday in a lecture at the University of Indonesia, Lagarde said the global economic situation will have a significant impact on developing countries, including Indonesia.

The IMF’s new data set, released in April with its latest World Economic Outlook report, estimates that in real terms (corrected for price differences, that is), China’s output in 2014 edged ahead of the United States for the first time. There was little between them: assuming its national accounts are correct, China produced goods and services worth US$17.6 trillion, just $198 billion more than US production of US$17.4 trillion.

In a report Thursday, the IMF forecasts 3.3 percent global growth this year, down from the 3.5 percent it predicted in April. The main culprit: The American economy, world's biggest, shrank at a 0.2 percent annual rate from January to March, hurt by nasty weather. 

The IMF is cutting the outlook for U.S. growth to 2.5 percent in 2015, from April's 3.1 percent. The U.S. economy grew 2.4 percent in 2014.

The IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department director, Changyong Rhee, says he has continued to work very closely with the Fijian government in this area and was happy to note that inroads have been made through the national budget and other key policies to achieve this.  
 

The Dialogue “Enhancing Macroeconomic Resilience to Natural Disasters in the Pacific Islands” will build on previous conferences held in Samoa and Vanuatu and recent IMF analytical work on this topic. It will bring together leading policymakers from 13 Pacific Island nations, as well as representatives from regional development partners, international financial organizations and think tanks.