Global growth will be disappointing in 2016 says IMF chief Christine Lagarde

E-Paper | July 27, 2026

BERLIN: Global economic growth will be "disappointing" next year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.

"In many countries the financial sector still has weaknesses and in emerging markets the financial risks are increasing. All of that means global growth will be disappointing and uneven in 2016," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

She added that low productivity, ageing populations and the effects of the global financial crisis were putting the brakes on growth, which has weakened the medium-term prospects.

Follow Dawn Business on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

World

‘Reason to be concerned’ about global economy: IMF

Lagarde extols power of Islamic finance

Women empowerment absolute economic no-brainer: IMF chief

Ali Abbas

Dec 30, 2015 01:35pm

As long as IMF is run by Europeans with a colonial mindset, disappointment will be the result.

Recommend 0

Angry Pitbull

Dec 30, 2015 03:46pm

But India it is vice versa happening, Its predicted to grow at the rate of 7 to 7.5% .

Recommend 0

imran

Dec 30, 2015 09:03pm

So what else is new.

Recommend 0

Rick

Dec 30, 2015 09:55pm

I'm sure we'll be hearing about another collapse, predicted by someone to saw the 2k8 collapse.....and so on and so forth. Big surprise.

Recommend 0

kay

Dec 31, 2015 12:22am

Actually the IMF is one of the few institutions that correctly predicted the oversupply in the world oil market.

Recommend 0

Geraldo

Dec 31, 2015 01:14am

@Angry Pitbull yes. Because they will move to every profitable country then send the cash to india. Instant growth!

Recommend 0

Unshackle Pakistan

Dec 31, 2015 02:52am

All this growth is not real but based of record low interest rates and resultant credit growth. Give it time and soon the markets are going to crack.

Recommend 0

Simran Kaur

Dec 31, 2015 05:46am

@Angry Pitbull - So what? India is a small fry on world economic scene, as it is not even among the top 5 GDP (nominal) economies in the world. Moreover, India's trade is not just minuscule, but almost negligible compared to the total world trade.

Recommend 0

Jason

Dec 31, 2015 07:52am

@Ali Abbas Growth in a fictitious world economy that prints paper money. Laughable. Someone gave these people supreme fiscal power, and obviously they cant seem to grasp that an absence of inflation in a global fishbowl economy is a good thing. "global growth"... Whow are we trading with for that to matter? Mars. Get outta here with that crap.

Recommend 0

allworld212

Dec 31, 2015 11:07am

@Ali Abbas Warren Buffett doesn't think America's economic future is all that great. He'd bet on Europe before he'd bet on our greedy power brokers.

Recommend 0

Happy John

Dec 31, 2015 06:00pm

Of course, the financial forecast is bad! The world's free market leader - the United States - has been under attack from within its own government for seven years. There is a proactive, aggressive plan to fundamentally change America into a Socialist or Communist form of government with an oligarchic leader and "elected" Congress.

Recommend 0

[Redacted]

Jan 01, 2016 05:31am

The boom bust cycle is just a way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. During the bust the poor have to sell assets, the rich buy them at a large discount. During a boom the rich sell those assets for a profit and spend some of those profits on long term businesses while saving the rest for the next bust. Rinse, repeat, every 10 or so years.

Recommend 0