WASHINGTON/KUALA LUMPUR -- The International Monetary Fund is leaving its projections for global output growth unchanged at 3.5 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2018, according to Monday's quarterly update of the IMF's forecast. "The recovery in global growth that we projected in April is on a firmer footing," said Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist at the Washington-based crisis lender. The IMF projects global trade growth approaching 4 percent in 2017-18, outpacing the world economy and well ahead of the 2015-16 trade growth of less than 2.5 percent. Despite confidence about growing output, growth in both advanced economies and commodity-exporting countries remains below the average enjoyed before the 2008 financial crisis. The IMF estimated global growth at 3.4 percent in 2015 and 3.2 percent last year.

Source: The China Post July 24, 2017 04:52 UTC