Global growth stumbles

Global Growth

The global economy is looking even weaker. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development revised down its worldwide growth forecast to 2.9% from an expectation of 3.2% in May. This would be a sharp pullback from growth of 3.6% in 2018, a time before Germany stumbled, the United States rattled global trade with intensifying tariffs against China and the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis looked a bit more spritely in its step.

Growth has worsened somewhat in the United States, as the benefits from the 2017 income tax cuts have faded and the drag from President Donald Trump’s tariffs is hurting business investment and manufacturers. The United Kingdom is also decelerating as it confronts an October deadline for its plans to leave the European Union. Germany’s outlook has turned bleaker as its economy has shrunk for the past two quarters. South Korea has slipped amid tensions with Japan. And Australia – which has been expanding for nearly three

decades – saw its growth revised downward sharply.