International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday that trade disputes and tariffs are starting to dim the outlook for global growth, calling on countries to resolve their differences and reform global trading rules.
In a speech ahead of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Indonesia, next week, Lagarde said growth was at its highest level since 2011, but had plateaued, with fewer countries participating in the expansion.
"In July, we projected 3.9 percent global growth for 2018 and 2019. The outlook has since become less bright, as you will see from our updated forecast next week," Lagarde said, without providing new figures.
"A key issue is that rhetoric is morphing into a new reality of actual trade barriers. This is hurting not only trade itself, but also investment and manufacturing as uncertainty continues to rise," she added.