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FOR RELEASE:January 28, 2009
 
Global Economic Slump Challenges Policies
World growth is projected to fall to ½ percent in 2009, its lowest rate since World War II. Despitewide-ranging policy actions, financial strains remain acute, pulling down the real economy. A sustained economic recovery will not be possible until the financial sector’s functionality is restored and credit markets are unclogged. For this purpose, new policy initiatives are needed to producecredible loan loss recognition; sort financial companies according to their medium-run viability; and  provide public support to viable institutions by injecting capital and carving out bad assets. Monetaryand fiscal policies need to become even more supportive of aggregate demand and sustain this stanceover the foreseeable future, while developing strategies to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability.Moreover, international cooperation will be critical in designing and implementing these policies.
The world economy is facing a deepdownturn.
Global growth in 2009 is expected to fall to½ percent when measured in terms of  purchasing power parity and to turn negativewhen measured in terms of market exchangerates (Table 1.1 and Figure 1). This representsa downward revision of about 1¾ percentage point from the November 2008 WEO Update.Helped by continued efforts to ease creditstrains as well as expansionary fiscal andmonetary policies, the global economy is projected to experience a gradual recovery in2010, with growth picking up to 3 percent.However, the outlook is highly uncertain, andthe timing and pace of the recovery
dependcritically on strong policy actions.
Financial markets remain under stress.
Financial market conditions have remainedextremely difficult for a longer period thanenvisaged in the November 2008
WEOUpdate
, despite wide-ranging policy measuresto provide additional capital and reduce creditrisks.
1
Since end-October, in advancedeconomies, spreads in funding markets haveonly gradually narrowed despite governmentguarantees, and those in many credit marketsremain close to their peaks. In emergingeconomies, despite some recent moderation,sovereign and corporate spreads are stillelevated. As economic prospects havedeteriorated, equity markets in both advanced
1
See theJanuary 2009 Global Financial StabilityReport––Market Update.
-30369
Figure 1. GDP Growth
(Percent change)
Source: IMF staff estimates.Emerging anddeveloping economiesAdvancedeconomies
1970759020001095058085
World
 
 
2and emerging economies have made little or no gains. Currency markets have been volatile.Financial markets are expected to remainstrained during 2009. In the advancedeconomies, market conditions will likelycontinue to be difficult until forceful policyactions are implemented to restructure thefinancial sector, resolve the uncertainty aboutlosses, and break the adverse feedback loopwith the slowing real economy. In emergingeconomies, financing conditions will likelyremain acute for some time—especially for corporate sectors that have very high rollover requirements.
 
 A pernicious feedback loop between the real and financial sectors is taking its toll.
Global output and trade plummeted in the finalmonths of 2008 (Figure 2). The continuation of the financial crisis, as policies failed to dispeluncertainty, has caused asset values to fallsharply across advanced and emergingeconomies, decreasing household wealth andthereby putting downward pressure onconsumer demand. In addition, the associatedhigh level of uncertainty has promptedhouseholds and businesses to postponeexpenditures, reducing demand for consumer and capital goods. At the same time,widespread disruptions in credit areconstraining household spending and curtailing production and trade.
 
-15-10-5051015-45-30-150153045
Figure 2. Growth in Global Industrial Production andMerchandise Trade
(Annualized three-month percent change)
Sources: Haver Analytics; and IMFstaff estimates.Merchandise export value(right scale)
199799Nov.08
Industrial production(left scale)
2001030507
 
 Advanced economies are suffering their deepest recession since World War II.
Against this uncertain backdrop, output in theadvanced economies is now expected tocontract by 2 percent in 2009. This would bethe first annual contraction during the postwar  period, with a cumulative output loss (relativeto potential) comparable to the 1974–75 and1980–82 periods (Figure 3). Nevertheless,assuming more comprehensive and coordinatedfinancial policy actions that support a gradualnormalization of financial market conditions, aswell as sizable fiscal stimulus and large interestrate cuts in many advanced economies, outputis expected to start recovering in late 2009 andrise by about 1 percent in 2010. Stabilization inthe U.S. housing market should help underpinrecovery during this period.
 
 
3
-8-6-4-202-8-6-4-202
Figure 3. Cumulative Output Loss Relative to Potentialduring Global Downturns
(Percent)
Source: IMF staff estimates.
1974–752008–101990–931980–832001–03
Advanced economiesEmerging and developing economies
World
 
 Emerging and developing economies areexperiencing a serious slowdown.
Growth in emerging and developing economiesis expected to slow sharply from 6
¼
percent in2008 to 3¼ percent in 2009, under the drag of falling export demand and financing, lower commodity prices, and much tighter externalfinancing constraints (especially for economieswith large external imbalances). Stronger economic frameworks in many emergingeconomies have provided more room for policysupport to growth than in the past, helping tocushion the impact of this unprecedentedexternal shock. Accordingly, although theseeconomies will experience serious slowdowns,their growth is projected to remain at or aboverates seen during previous global downturns.Developing countries in Africa and elsewhereare also better prepared this time to face policychallenges because of improvedmacroeconomic policy implementation, but thecontinent is in a weaker position than mostother regions because of its poverty levels andreliance on commodity exports.
 Anemic global growth has reversed thecommodity price boom.
The slump in global demand has led to acollapse in commodity prices (Figure 4).Despite production cutbacks and geopoliticaltensions, oil prices have declined by over 60 percent since their peak in July 2008,although they remain higher in real terms thanduring the 1990s. The IMF’s baseline petroleum price projection has been reviseddown to $50 a barrel for 2009 and $60 a barrelfor 2010 (from $68 and $78, respectively, inthe November 
WEO Update
), and risks to this projection are on the downside. Metals andfood prices have also been marked down in linewith recent developments. These price declineshave dampened growth prospects for a number of commodity-exporting economies.
050100150200250300350400450
Figure 4. Real Commodity Prices
(1995 = 100)
Source: IMF staff estimates.MetalsFood
1980902000109585
Oil
1405
 
 Inflation pressures are subsiding.
Sluggish real activity and lower commodity prices have dampened inflation pressures(Figure 5). In the advanced economies,headline inflation is expected to decline from3½ percent in 2008 to a record low
¼
percentin 2009, before edging up to
¾
percent in2010. Moreover, some advanced economiesare expected to experience a period of very
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