IMF: GDP to contract 12 percent
and inflation to grow 17 percent

World economy will

shrink by three percent

GDP will decrease by 12 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It said that the local economy shrank by 6.5 percent in 2019.

In its ‘World economic Outlook: Global Lockdown’ published in April, the IMF has forecasted that the global economy will contract by three percent in 2020, the worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The organization expects the inflation rate to reach 17 percent as measured by the average annual change in consumer prices. It was seven percent last year.

The ‘Current Account’ deficit will narrow to 12.6 of GDP, from a deficit of 20.6 of GDP in 2019.

Borrowing as a percentage of GDP is expected to rise to 15.3 percent, up from 10.7 percent in 2019.

The IMF had projections for 2021 for other countries, but Lebanon’s projections were omitted due to an unusually high degree of uncertainty.