IMF: Trade war biggest threat global economy

- The world economy is still growing well. But it takes less and less to bring that growth out of balance.

To this end, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns in an update of the World Economic Outlook, the bi-annual report on the state of the world economy. This is expected to grow 3.9% this year, the same as in the previous estimates for April. But growth has reached a plate and is becoming more and more out of balance.

According to the IMF, the most important risk in the short term is the increasingly grinding trade war that the US has started. US President Trump has announced import tariffs against China and the EU, among others. Now there are threats against China, the EU, the Nafta countries and Japan.

If all threats in the trade war are converted into measures, such as tariffs or other obstacles, this is at the expense of growth, according to the IMF's calculators. In 2020 global production will then be 0.5% below current estimates.

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