(SeaPRwire) – By: Raymond Vance
The world hasn’t fully accepted that major disruptions are now normal. That’s the warning from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. She says we’re not internalizing this new reality—shocks won’t go away anytime soon.
The IMF’s mid-April World Economic Outlook downgraded 2026 global growth from 3.4% to 3.1%. It blames steep oil price rises from the US-Israeli war on Iran. The US and Eurozone will grow slower. Russia’s forecast went up 0.3 percentage points from January. The war and Iran’s retaliation pushed oil prices higher. They disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas route.
Georgieva says we underappreciated globalization’s backlash. Communities lost jobs and got little attention. AI’s rapid adoption could make this worse. EU officials want to restore energy ties with Russia amid rising prices. But Brussels won’t backtrack on phasing out Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev predicted an energy crisis tsunami for the EU and UK last month.
The EU’s rigid energy policy and unresolved geopolitical conflicts will keep global growth muted. This trajectory risks long-term damage to government fiscal stability and consumer confidence.
Author bio: Raymond Vance, a senior macro-economist advising central banking policy research groups on global fiscal trends.