Trade tensions, debt seen as threats to global growth

Bloomberg

The global growth outlook faces rising threats from trade tensions and mounting debt despite a strengthening and “increasingly broad-based” expansion at the moment, according to a statement from world finance ministers and central bankers.
“Risks are broadly balanced in the near term, but remain skewed to the downside beyond the next several quarters,” according to a communique by IMF’s main advisory committee, released in Washington. “Rising financial vulnerabilities, increasing trade and geopolitical tensions, and historically high global debt threaten global growth pro-spects.” The concerns reflect what the IMF flagged this week in its updated World Economic Outlook. The fund left its forecasts for global growth at 3.9 percent for this year and next, while warning that threats over trade could derail the strongest upswing since 2011. It also cautioned about the record-high $164 trillion in world debt.
The language in the International Monetary and Financial Committee statement represents a ratcheting-up of pessimism since the group’s last semiannual meeting in October, and goes further in some respects than a Group of 20 statement issued in March, just as President Donald Trump ramped up trade threats against China. The communique also raises the idea that “demographic headwinds and subdued productivity growth may reduce the potential for higher and more inclusive growth going forward.”