IMF predicts zero growth for US economy in 2009 [:o]

BRAINSTORMING: World leaders meet on November 15 to discuss the global economic crisis.






The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a gloomy economic outlook for the United States and rest of the Western Hemisphere.

The IMF said that US economic growth will be close to zero or even slightly negative for the rest of 2008. Overall, the IMF says, growth in the advanced economies as a whole will also be close to zero at least until the middle of 2009.

According to the IMF a recovery is unlikely till the second half of 2009. Global economic growth, too, is likely to decline to 3.7 per cent this year, much below nearly five per cent recorded in 2007, as US, world's largest economy, is expected to slip into a recession.

The global economic growth is expected to fall further and touch 2.4 per cent in 2009.

World leaders will meet in Washington on November 15 to discuss the global economic crisis.