The IMF has upgraded its near-term projection for global economic growth, following "consistently good economic news" since summer 2016. The fund has raised the projected global growth rate to 3.5pc for this year in its latest World Economic Outlook, up from its previous forecast of 3.4pc. Growth should reach 3.6pc next year, compared with a 3.1pc increase in 2016. "Momentum in the global economy has been building since the middle of last year," IMF research director Maurice Obstfeld says. But economic policies in the world's two largest economies - the US and China - present potential downside risks to the forecast, he says. The IMF has left its US growth expectation unchanged at 2.3pc for this year. But it has upgraded its projections for Japan, the UK and the largest eurozone economies.
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