IMF delays forecast release to factor in Covid-19 developments

Washington: In a bid to factor in the latest Covid-19 developments, a spokesperson for International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said that the global lender will release its World Economic Outlook on Jan. 25, a week later than planned amid signs another downgrade is coming.

"The World Economic Outlook update will be launched on January 25 to allow our teams to incorporate the latest developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic into the economic forecasts," the spokesperson said.

Last month, the IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice had told the reporters to expect the update on Jan. 19.

Meanwhile, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last month told at the Reuters Next conference that the global lender was likely to further downgrade its global economic growth projections in January to reflect the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

In October, the IMF had forecast global economic growth of 5.9% in 2021 and 4.9% this year, while underscoring the uncertainty posed by the new coronavirus variants.

The coronavirus has killed nearly 5.8 million people worldwide over the past two years.

Economists expect the IMF to cut its economic forecast for the United States, the world's largest economy, given the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, as well as the failure of Congress to pass U.S. President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion social and climate spending package.

In October, it had already slashed its forecast for U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth in 2021 by a full percentage point to 6%, citing supply chain disruptions and a labor crunch, while forecasting growth of 5.2% in 2022.

Since then, the pandemic has surged again, and divisions in Congress have deepened.

The United States set a global record of almost 1 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, and its daily average has totalled 486,000 cases over the last week, a rate higher than that of any other country.