IMF cuts growth forecasts for Asian economies

The 2019 and 2020 growth forecasts for Singapore and other Asian economies have been cut by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest Regional Economic Outlook released yesterday.

It projected that Singapore's growth for 2019 will be 0.5 per cent, a sharp drop from the 2.3 per cent it forecast in its World Economic Outlook in April. The Singapore Government expects growth to come in between 0 and 1 per cent this year.

For 2020, the IMF estimated that Singapore's growth will be at 1 per cent, compared with its prediction of 2.4 per cent in April.

It forecast that China's growth will fall to 6.1 per cent this year, and to 5.8 per cent next year. And Hong Kong is expected to experience the sharpest slowdown, with growth slowing to 0.3 per cent this year.

But Asia will remain the world's fastest-growing region, it said.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 24, 2019, with the headline IMF cuts growth forecasts for Asian economies. Subscribe