The IMF Reports, April 2025 an analysis/review

On April 22, 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released two major reports: the World Economic Outlook (WEO) and the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR).

- Madhusudhanan S

Given the extensive nature of both documents, this review will focus on the key highlights from each report, starting with the WEO and followed by the GFSR.

World Economic Outlook, April 2025

After a prolonged period of shocks, the global economy appeared to be on a path of steady—albeit modest—recovery. However, as governments recalibrate their policy priorities, uncertainty has risen to unprecedented levels.

According to the WEO, global growth projections have been significantly downgraded from the January 2025 WEO Update, largely due to a highly volatile climate and tariff levels not seen in a century. The IMF’s forecasts account for the U.S. tariff announcements and subsequent countermeasures from other countries between February 1 and April 4. As a result, the IMF has revised its global growth forecasts downward by approximately 0.8 percentage points, projecting growth at 2.8% for 2025 and 3% for 2026.

The WEO also provides an alternate estimate excluding the impact of April tariffs. In this scenario, global growth would have declined only slightly by 0.2 percentage points, to 3.2% for both 2025 and 2026.

While headline inflation is expected to decline globally, the pace of disinflation is slower than previously anticipated. The IMF has revised global inflation upward by around 0.1 percentage points annually.