By
Maria Gallucci - Global economic growth is expected to dip this year, following
the fiercely cold winter that plagued the United States and turbulence in
Ukraine and the world’s financial markets.
The World
Bank on Tuesday said it reduced its global growth forecast to 2.8 percent
this year, down from a January projection of 3.2 percent, Bloomberg News
reported.
The
U.S. forecast was cut to 2.1 percent from 2.8 percent, and outlooks for Brazil,
Russia, India and China also fell -- a sign that emerging economies aren’t
moving fast enough or investing sufficiently in domestic structural reforms,
which are needed to accelerate economic expansion, according to the
Washington-based institution. It recommended smaller budget deficits, higher
interest rates and productivity-boosting measures to stave off future financial
unrest, Bloomberg said.
The
growth setbacks, however, might be short-lived. The 2015 projection for global economic growth held steady at
3.4 percent, Bloomberg noted, and growth is expected to regain speed this year
despite earlier weaknesses, the World Bank said in its Global Economic
Prospects report.
"The
financial health of economies has improved. ... But we are not totally out of
the woods yet," Kaushik Basu, the lender's chief economist, said. "A
gradual tightening of fiscal policy and structural reforms are desirable to
restore fiscal space depleted by the 2008 financial crisis. In brief, now
is the time to prepare for the next crisis."
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