The IMF Downgrades Its Forecast For Global Economic Growth

The International Monetary Fund has cut the forecast for global economic growth for this year.

It decreased its figure to 3.1% from the July prediction of 3.3%. The forecast for 2016 is down from 3.8% to 3.6%.

"A return to robust and synchronized global expansion remains elusive," the IMF says.

The report also warns that the risks of an outcome worse than its forecasts are more pronounced than they were just a few months ago.

The sharpest downgrades are for emerging economies, especially Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa and Russia.

So the IMF is still predicting growth, but it is distinctly lacklustre growth, especially for the current year.

The developed economies are expected to manage slightly stronger growth than before, reflecting the modest recovery in the eurozone and the return of growth in Japan, though that looks tentative at best.

Receding legacies from the financial crisis are elements in that story, as is the long-lasting support from central bank policies - low and zero interest rates and also quantitative easing, which continues in the eurozone and Japan.

The emerging and developing economies still account for what the IMF calls thelion's share of global growth, but they are slowing, in 2015 for the fifth consecutive year.