The global economy has proven to be much more resilient than expected over the past year. After sharply downgrading growth expectations in April following the US ‘Liberation Day’ tariff launch (MEES, 1 August), the IMF has since unveiled successive upwards revisions, most recently in January. This week’s update to the World Economic Outlook (WEO) saw the IMF revise up its assessment for growth in 2025 by 0.1 percentage points to 3.3%, flat with 2024 growth.
“Remarkably, global growth for 2025 and 2026 is expected to be stronger than projected back in October 2024 before the tariff disruption started,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Director of the IMF’s Research Department, told a press briefing for the launch of the WEO’s January update. While noting that the trade tensions are a major source of instability, he pointed to private sector agility, the AI investment boom and stimulus measures in China and Germany as key drivers of the uplift. (CONTINUED - 493 WORDS)
