Analysts query IMF gloom

The latest world economic outlook from the IMF paints a bleak picture of global prospects, one that brings it in line with the gloomiest predictions that for months have been emanating from private-sector economists.

The fund now predicts a global economic contraction of 1.3 per cent.

But the IMF’s prognosis for this region marks a particularly sharp contrast with its last forecast, sparking some economists to question whether the organisation, based in Washington, is now erring on the side of an increasingly popular pessimism.