IMF Sees Global Economy Shrinking

The world economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time in 6 decades, says the International Monetary Fund in projecting a 1.3% drop in a dour forecast today. That could leave at least 10 million more people around the world jobless, some private economists said. "By any measure, this downturn represents by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression," the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook.

"All corners of the globe are being affected," the agency added. The new forecast of a decline in global economic activity for 2009 is much weaker than the 0.5% growth the IMF had estimated in January. It now expects stabilizing financial markets and restoring credit flows to take longer than it had then anticipated. (More IMF stories.)