The global spread of the novel coronavirus has crushed hopes for stronger growth this year and will hold 2020 global output gains to their slowest pace since the 2008/9 financial crisis, International Monetary Fund (IMF) MD Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday. The IMF now expects 2020 world growth to be below the 2.9% rate for 2019, and revised forecasts will be issued in the coming weeks, Georgieva told a news briefing. Trade wars pushed global growth last year to the lowest rate since a 0.7% contraction in 2009.
