Georgieva
told reporters that U.S. labor markets remain resilient and consumer demand
remains strong despite increases in interest rates to fight inflation. She said
there has been a healthy shift away from excess goods purchases, which had
pressured prices, back toward services demand, and there were more diversified
sources of growth in the economy.
“It gives some argumentation of an expectation that the U.S. would avoid falling into recession,” Georgieva said during her first news briefing of 2023. “And actually, I would say even if it is in technical terms in recession, that will be a very mild recession.”
She noted that determinations of recessions are normally the subject of intense debate but she said she was leaning toward a soft-landing scenario for the United States.
The IMF in
October forecast U.S. GDP growth for 2023 at 1.0%, a projection it will update
this month. The World Bank on Tuesday forecast U.S. growth at 0.5% for 2023.
(source:Reuters)
