The News
The US economy is on track to grow faster this year than previously predicted, boosted by strong labor markets and accelerating investment, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.
The IMF projects that the US economy will grow by 2.7%, up from an earlier estimate of 2.2%. By contrast, the institution lowered its estimates for the eurozone and Canada, which are facing a number of economic challenges.
“The big story is the divergence between the US and the rest of the world,” the IMF’s chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said.
Without explicitly mentioning US president-elect Donald Trump’s promises of a new wave of tariffs, Gourinchas said that “an intensification of protectionist policies, for instance, in the form of a new wave of tariffs, could exacerbate trade tensions, lower investment, reduce market efficiency, distort trade flows and again disrupt supply chains.”
China’s predicted growth was adjusted 0.1% up to 4.6%, after a November stimulus package helped offset a real estate slump.