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Omicron strain to push global economic recovery rates down, says IMF head

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva

04 December 2021 09:49 (UTC +04:00)

The spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain may lead to a decline in global economic recovery rates, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told an online conference on Friday, APA reports citing TASS.

When asked to comment on the implications of the spread of the new strain for the global economic outlook, she said: "Let’s be very frank, a new variant that may spread very rapidly, can dent confidence, and in that sense, we are likely to see some downgrades of our October projections for global growth."

That said, IMF Managing Director noted that "even before the arrival of this new variant" the Fund was concerned that "the recovery, while it continues, is losing some momentum because of slowdown in the two countries that are engines for growth - in the US and in China, and because the Delta variant proved to be a disrupter, it caused some additional delays in production."

Moreover, "divergence between countries recovering faster and those falling behind is more entrenched," Georgieva added.