Global economic growth may be negative in 2009, IMF reports

The global economic growth may be negative in 2009l for the first time in the past few decades, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) general manager, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in the opening of the conference discussing the impact of the economic crisis on Africa, AFP reports.

„The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African political and financial leaders in the Tanzanian capital.

„Continued de-leveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the globe, while world trade is falling at an alarming rate and commodity prices have tumbled” Strauss-Kahn added, according to Reuters.

In February, Strauss-Kahn said that the global economic growth may be close to zero.