The worry for India is the fact that the International Monetary Fund has cut its global trade growth forecasts by 0.2 percentage point for 2018 (from its January forecast) to 3.9 per cent. India's merchandise exports started improving in recent months after struggling since December 2014.
The central bank cautioned, however, that Canada's economy might be unable to maintain the pace set in early 2017. In advanced economies, the pickup is primarily driven by higher projected growth in the United States, where activity was held back in 2016 by inventory adjustment and weak investment.
Among G7 countries, the US has the highest projected growth, with increases of 2.3 per cent this year and 2.5 per cent in 2018, unchanged from the IMF's outlook in January. It credits improving manufacturing and trade in bigger economies for the 3.5 percent growth it now expects, up from January's 3.4 percent forecast. The IMF said lower oil prices would hamper the regional growth.
Among the developed economies, the US economy is expected to grow by 2.3 percent in 2017 and 2.5 percent in 2018, the same forecast as that in January; the growth forecast for the euro-zone was raised by 0.1 percentage points to 1.7 percent in 2017; the Japanese economy is expected to grow by 1.2 percent in 2017, 0.4 percentage points higher than its January forecast, with growth slowing to 0.6 percent in 2018. Growth will rebound to 4.5 percent in 2018, the report said - close to the government's target in its new budget.
Something Sketchy Happened the Same Day Ivanka Trump Met with China's President
Trump hosted Chinese President xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, the foreign leader was serenaded by the president's granddaughter. Klem also noted the sudden " surge in trademark filings by unrelated third parties trying to capitalize on the name ".
The world economy gained speed in the fourth quarter of 2016 and the momentum is expected to persist.
But there were a couple of upside surprises among the advanced economies, including a half-point upward revision to the forecast for Britain this year, to two percent, despite fears of a negative impact of Brexit. At the same time, adverse weather conditions and civil unrest threaten several low-income countries with starvation.
Among them is "the turn towards protectionism, leading to trade warfare", Obstfeld said in the foreword of the report.
Meanwhile, a "broad-based recovery is expected to continue at a healthy pace" in Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund said, forecasting growth of five percent this year, and 5.2 percent in 2018, "supported by ramped-up infrastructure investment".
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