World Bank Slashes 0.3% Off the Global Economic Growth, Trimming the Forecast to 2.6%!

After the cut of China’s economic growth from 6.3% to 6.2% in 2019 by IMF, the World Bank has announced that the world economy would expand 2.6% this year instead of the earlier forecast at 2.9%, citing a slowdown in trade growth to the weakest since the financial crisis in 2008, but noted that the pace would pick up to 2.7% next year.

“There’s been a tumble in business confidence, a deepening slowdown in global trade and sluggish investment in emerging and developing economies,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a call with reporters. “Momentum remains fragile.”

The bank also warned that risks are skewed “firmly” to the downside, citing reignited trade tensions between the U.S. and China, financial turbulence in emerging markets and sharper-than-expected weakness in advanced nations, particularly Europe.