World economy — better luck next year. That’s the message the International Monetary Fund gave this week, further downgrading its projection of 2009 global economic growth to -1.3 percent — nearly 2 percent less than originally forecast. The IMF called it “the most severe recession since World War II.” A modest recovery is predicted for 2010, but at 1.9 percent would be “sluggish relative to past recoveries.” “These projections are based on an assessment that financial market stabilization will take longer than previously thought, even with strong efforts by policymakers,” Oliver Blanchard, IMF chief economist and Jose Vinals, head of the IMF’s monetary and capital markets department, said in a joint statement.
