The IMF Downgrades Economic Forecast for Bulgaria

Finance | October 9, 2013, Wednesday // 19:36|  views

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its global GDP forecast for 2013 and 2014, including for Bulgaria.

In its biannual assessment of the world economy, the IMF predicts a 0.5% growth for Bulgaria in 2013, as opposed to the 1.2% forecast in April. For 2014, the figure is 1.6%, down from 2.3% in the April assessment.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Petar Chobanov stated recently that the government predicts a 1.8% growth for the following year.

An IMF mission visited Sofia from June 27–July 3, 2013, to discuss economic developments and government policies with the Bulgarian authorities.

In its latest report, the Fund points out that Bulgaria is among the countries with structural unemployment, where bold reforms targeted at increasing employment and competitiveness are necessary.

The expected global growth for 2013 is 2.9% and 3.6% for 2014.

The Fund warns that the political standoff in the US may pose a threat to the global economy, if it is not resolved quickly.

However, it predicts that Italy and Spain's economies, which have been in recession for the past few years, will finally experience growth.

The anticipated Eurozone unemployment rate for 2014 is 12.2%, down by 0.1% from the last assessment.

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Tags: IMF, International Monetary Fund, GDP, growth, unemployment, Italy, greece, recession

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