IMF cuts growth forecast despite oil price boost

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In not exactly good news for container lines hoping to fill their boxship behemoths this year, the International Monetary Fund yesterday lowered its 2015 growth forecast for the global economy from 3.8% to 3.5% in a largely downbeat report. It appears from the IMF’s comments that lower oil prices, which in general support growth, will be more than offset by “persistent negative forces” at work in the major economies of the world – with the lone bright spot being the fracking-boosted US. This begs the question: how much gloomier would the IMF report have been without the oil price reduction?