IMF cuts global growth estimates on Russia's war In Ukraine The International Monetary Fund will cut its global growth estimates for 2022 and 2023 as Russia's war in Ukraine drives food and energy prices higher, piling pressure on already fragile economies, managing director Kristalina Georgieva said recently, warning the world was in "a very dangerous time". The global lender will downgrade its growth outlooks for 143 economies representing 86% of global economic output, although most countries will maintain positive growth, Georgieva said in a "curtain raiser" speech. Georgieva, who previously flagged a likely downgrade, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "sending Shockwaves throughout the globe" and dealing a massive setback to countries struggling to recover from the still-raging Covid-19 pandemic. "The root cause of what we face today is the war, and it is the war that must end," Georgieva said in remarks to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, "In economic terms, growth is down and inflation is up. In human terms, people's incomes are down and hardship is up." Western sanctions imposed on Russia reflected "a global order than has been severely impacted," she added, warning of a major new threat, the fragmentation of the global economy into geopolitical blocs, with differing trade and technology standards, payment systems and reserve currencies. She said the war was also aggravating food insecurity across the globe, given disruptions to grain and fertiliser supplies from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus that are driving up food prices and hitting the weakest countries the hardest. Without urgent, coordinated action to bolster food supplies, many countries face more hunger, poverty and social unrest, she said. It was also imperative to improve longer-term resilience by diversifying agricultural prodcution, much as vaccine production was spread out regionally during the pandemic.
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