Iran · Israel · Strait of Hormuz · Fortune Technology
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday modestly downgraded its outlook for the world economy this year
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
The IMF now expects the global economy to expand by a sluggish 3% in 2026, down from 3.5% last year and from the 3.1% it had forecast for this year back in April.
Key facts
- The IMF now expects oil prices to be up nearly 32% this year and for global consumer prices overall to increase 4.7% in 2026
- The IMF now expects the global economy to expand by a sluggish 3% in 2026, down from 3.5% last year and from the 3.1% it had forecast for this year back in April
- The IMF expects the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, to grow a solid 2.3% this year, up from 2.1% in 2025 and unchanged from the April forecast
- China, the world’s No. 2 economy, is expected to expand 4.6% this year, down from 5% in 2026 but a bit faster than the IMF had expected in April
Summary
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday modestly downgraded its outlook for the world economy this year, citing the energy shock caused by the Iran war. Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli attacks Feb. 28 by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passes. The IMF forecasts assume that the Strait of Hormuz reopens later this month, even though U.S. strikes on Iran resumed and President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that a ceasefire with Iran was over. “The world economy has weathered the shock from the war better than feared,″ Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the IMF’s research department, told reporters Wednesday.