Snip, snip?.?.?.?slash.?After gently trimming its growth forecast for emerging markets at every juncture for a year and a half, the International Monetary Fund has finally wielded its econometric chainsaw.
It now expects the developing world’s output to expand by just 4.5 per cent this year. That’s 0.5 percentage points lower than its July forecast, and down from the 6 per cent growth predicted in April 2012.
But despite the gloom permeating the IMF’s outlook, there is cause to believe that emerging markets can recover their poise this autumn – provided the US manages to avoid financial self-immolation, which is a bigger ask than it should be these days.