The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its forecast for global growth this year. Emerging and developing economies including Brazil and Russia will grow 6.3% in 2010, a 0.3 percentage point increase from the previous forecast. Next year they will expand 6.5 percent, the fund said. In Latin America, only Uruguay and Peru will have a better performance than Brazil. China will grow fastest – by 10 per cent this year and 9.9 per cent in 2011. Elsewhere, Brazil, India and Indonesia are also staging strong rebounds. Rich countries are shouldering a much heavier debt burden, with debt-to-GDP ratios approaching World War Two highs. While the IMF urged countries to “urgently” adopt credible debt-reduction strategies, it said most stimulus measures planned for 2010 should be fully implemented because the recovery remained fragile and unemployment high.
