DAR EL-SALAM: Global economic growth could dip below zero for the first time in decades in 2009, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Tuesday.
The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes, he said at the opening of a conference in Tanzania on the impact of the world financial crisis on Africa.
Continued deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the world, Strauss-Kahn said.
Strauss-Kahn had said last month he expected zero growth in 2009. -AFP