Global growth is slowing, says IMF

Growth is slowing in a number of the world's big economies, and the International Monetary Fund is warning that investor sentiment could make a "sudden reversal" for the worse, reports CNBC.

"Although still supportive of growth, global financial conditions have started to tighten," the fund said in its latest Regional Economic Outlook report for Middle East and Central Asia, released Tuesday.

The report is published annually and gives a broad overview of recent economic developments and of prospects and policy issues for the medium term.

"Global conditions are changing in terms of the risk metrics," Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia at the IMF, told CNBC's "Capital Connection."

The IMF said higher US interest rates, a stronger US dollar, and financial market volatility could bring pressure in some emerging-market and developing economies.

The IMF forecasts global growth for 2018-2019 to remain steady at its 2017 level of 3.7 per cent, but the growth outlook for a number of major economies has been marked down.

In the United States, while the real GDP growth outlook for 2018 is unchanged at 2.9 per cent, the forecast for 2019 has been revised down to 2.5 per cent due to the recently announced trade measures.

The United States has entered a serious tariff dispute with China, and it remains unclear how long that conflict will last.