In the wake of high profile financial scandals and the alarming fall in share prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its 2002 growth estimates for the United States.
On Monday, the IMF was predicting US economic growth of 2.5% this year and 3.25% in 2003. A leaked copy of the
World Economic Outlook now reveals estimates of 2.2% and 2.6% respectively.
The IMF does not anticipate a recession but earlier this week, it hinted that corporate accounting scares and the ongoing weakness of the world’s markets had reduced business and consumer confidence in the economy at large.
However, despite the fact that “the downside risks have intensified”, the IMF describes the US outlook as “broadly favourable”.
