IMF says 2023 global growth to slow, but projection better than Oct.

But the bright side is that the forecast is 0.2 percentage point higher than the IMF previously projected in October, with the institution expecting the world economy to grow 3.1 percent in 2024, as it sees inflation peaking and the post-pandemic recovery unleashing pent-up demand.

About 84 percent of the world's countries are set to have lower headline consumer price indexes, with global inflation likely to fall from 8.8 percent in 2022 to 6.6 percent this year and 4.3 percent the following year. Still, the projected inflation numbers are higher than prepandemic levels of around 3.5 percent.

Among major economies, U.S. growth is forecast at 1.4 percent in 2023 and 1.0 percent in 2024, down from 2.0 percent last year. The new figures compare with October projections of 1.0 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

Growth in the euro area is anticipated to be 0.7 percent in 2023, up 0.2 point from the earlier forecast, before rising to 1.6 percent in 2024.

In emerging and developing Asia, growth is expected to rise in 2023 and 2024 to 5.3 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, after it slowed more than expected to 4.3 percent in 2022, mainly due to the Chinese economy's sluggish performance.

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