IMF Managing Director: "Omicron Spread... Possible Downgrade of Global Economic Growth Outlook"

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stated that the global economic growth forecast is expected to be downgraded due to the spread of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, adding that "next year will be a difficult year."

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 3rd (local time), Georgieva attended a global economic meeting and said, "The rapidly spreading new variant will undermine confidence," and "there is a possibility of somewhat lowering the IMF's October global growth forecast."

She previously mentioned that disruptions such as delays in goods production in the US and China occurred due to the COVID-19 Delta variant, and that concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth momentum had already existed even before the emergence of the Omicron variant.

She continued, "Issues such as the widening gap between countries rapidly recovering from the pandemic and those that are not existed before Omicron appeared, and now these issues are becoming entrenched."

According to Managing Director Georgieva, 60% of the world's poorest countries are at risk of failing to repay their debts. She predicted, "Due to the sharp increase in national debts caused by the pandemic, next year will be a very difficult year regarding debt repayment issues."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.