IMF boosts world growth outlook as Covid-19 vaccines outweigh uncertainty

The pandemic is exacerbating inequality, with close to 90 million people likely to fall into extreme poverty in 2020 and 2021, the fund said

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for global growth this year, betting the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and more fiscal stimulus will offset the immediate challenge posed by the resurgent pandemic.
 
Global gross domestic product will soar 5.5 per cent this year, faster than the 5.2 per cent projected in October, the fund said Tuesday. It credited improvement in the US for much of the upgrade, which was offset by cuts to its predictions for the euro area and the UK.
 
Such an expansion would match 2007 as the best in four decades of data and follow