IMF SAYS GLOBAL ECONOMY IN "SEVERE RECESSION"

WASHINGTON, April 23 -- The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned that the global economy was in "a severe recession" and the world output is projected to decline 1.3 percent this year, the deepest global recession since the Great Depression in 1930s.



"The global economy is in a severe recession inflicted by a massive financial crisis and acute loss of confidence," said the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook report. "All corners of the globe are being affected." According to the report, the world economy is projected to decline by 1.3 percent in 2009 as a whole and to recover only gradually in 2010, growing by 1.9 percent. The advanced economies experienced an unprecedented 7.5 percent decline in real GDP during the fourth quarter of 2008, and output is estimated to have continued to fall almost as fast during the first quarter of 2009, according to the report. In the latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF warned that the current outlook is exceptionally uncertain, with risks weighed to the downside. The crisis has hurt international trade, with volume expected to plunge 11 percent this year before eking out 0.6 percent growth in 2010.