IMF Reduces Global Growth Forecast, Predicts 'Mild' Eurozone Recession

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reduced its projection for global financial growth in 2012 and predicts the debt-plagued eurozone will fall into a "mild recession."

In an update to the forecast it issued last September, the IMF reduced growth projections for the year by 0.7 percent to 3.3 percent.

Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s economic counsellor, said global recovery from recession has been weak in the first place, but "is in danger of stalling."

He said the "epicenter of the danger is Europe, but the rest of the world is increasingly affected."

Along with the eurozone debt crisis, the IMF also said the market impact of increasing fears about Iranian oil supplies would be "large."

Earlier this month, the World Bank also downgraded its growth forecast for 2012 by more than 1 percent, to 2.5 percent.
with agency reports