The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said there were two reasons for the slowdown in the global economic recovery.

“The first is because the two big drivers of growth, the United States and China, have slowed,” she told CNN International.

“The second, because of Omicron. This leads to more restrictions on mobility and as a result affects growth, especially in the first months of this year,” said Georgieva.

She gave an interview to a journalist in connection with the release of the new IMF report World Economic Prospects.

IMF: Global Growth is Slowing, Inflation is Rising

It says COVID-19's Omicron variant is creating obstacles to the global economy that will slow growth this year.

The Washington-based financial institution has lowered its global GDP forecast for 2022 to 4.4%, half a point less than the October estimate, due to “obstacles” caused by the latest epidemic, although they are expected to begin to subside in the second quarter of the year.

“The global economy is entering a weaker position in 2022 than previously expected,” the IMF said in a quarterly update of its World Economic Outlook, adding that “the emergence of the Omicron variant in late November threatens to reverse this uncertain path to recovery”.

/BGNES

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