'Great Recession' pushing economy below zero: IMF

Dar Es Salaam, Mar 10: Terming the present global economic crisis as a 'Great Recession', the head of International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday, Mar 10 said that the global economy might shrink below zero in 2009.

“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 leaders in the Tanzanian capital.

“Continuing deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with the collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the world," he said.

The monetary institution had in Jan forecasted that the global economy would expand 0.5 per cent this year and the World Bank said in a report on Sunday, Mar 8 that global economy is likely to shrink for the first time since World War II, and trade will decline by the most in 80 years.

OneIndia News