IMF says slowdown not as bad as first feared

However, the IMF warned that rising inflation, a significant deceleration in growth and fragile financial conditions will continue to mire the global economy and make 2008 and 2009 a challenging environment. Speaking at a conference in Washington yesterday, economic counsellor and director of research at the IMF, Simon Johnson, said: "Against surging food and energy prices and continued turbulence and strained conditions in financial markets, global growth is indeed moderating although not quite as sharply as we projected in our April 2008 world economic outlook." In terms of economic a...