Need to think of the unthinkable, as we live in more shock-prone world: IMF warns

Washington: “The world economy is still in a very difficult place. Global growth is slowing down in 2023 but it might be a turning point,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. Speaking at a World Government Summit panel hosted by CNBC, Georgieva warned that “we need to think of the unthinkable as we live in a more shock-prone world impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the recent earthquake across Syria and Turkey." She said everyone has to change their mindset to be “much more agile and oriented towards building resilience at all levels, so we can handle the shocks better.” “What we are very concerned [about] is the unexpected,” Georgieva added. ‘Inflation finally trimming’ Georgieva said the IMF believes that a cost of living crisis which triggered in many countries following global inflation spike is subsiding. “We see inflation finally trimming down in quite a number of countries. The chance of finally getting on top of the problem of cost of living being a major disrupter for millions and millions of people, we see light at the end of this tunnel,” Georgieva said. In January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that global consumer price hikes would decline to 6.6 per cent in 2023, against 6.5 per cent it predicted in last year in October. It further said that the inflation rates are anticipated to be lower in 2023 as against 2022 in nearly 84 per cent of the countries. World gross domestic product will likely grow an estimated 2.9 per cent in 2023, 0.2 percentage point more than forecast in October, IMF had said. The IMF, however, has increased its global growth forecast for 2023 on the back of strong US consumer spending and China’s reopening after the zero Covid policy. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.