The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday said that the global economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time in sixty years. The projection, which came in an IMF report released Wednesday, found a 1.3 percent drop in the global economy, which could leave at least 10 million more people around the world jobless, some private economists said. “By any measure, this downturn represents by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression. All corners of the globe are being affected,” the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook. The new forecast of a decline in global economic activity for 2009 is much weaker than the 0.5 percent growth the IMF had estimated in January. Amidst news of the declining world economy, it also seems that it's expected to take longer than previously thought to stabilize world financial markets and get credit flowing freely again to consumers and businesses. The report comes ahead of Friday's meetings between the United States and other major economic powers, and weekend sessions of the IMF and World Bank. The talks will seek to discuss the commitments made at a G-20 leaders summit in London last month, when U.S. President Barack Obama and the others pledged to boost financial support for the IMF and other international lending institutions by $1.1 trillion. The IMF predicts the U.S. economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year, but Japan is expected to suffer the sharpest contraction this year: 6.2 percent. Russia's economy would shrink 6 percent, Germany 5.6 percent and Britain 4.1 percent. Mexico's economic activity would decrease at 3.7 percent and Canada's at 2.5 percent. Global powerhouse China, meanwhile, is expected to see its growth slow to 6.5 percent this year, and India's growth is likely to slow to 4.5 percent. When asked about the IMF figures, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that he had not yet seen the numbers, and would later comment on America's economic turmoil.
