Global economic growth revised down

The world growth forecast for 2011 has been revised down from 3.4% to 3.2%, credit insurer Coface said on Tuesday. Speaking in Johannesburg, Marie-France Raynaud, head economic research at Coface, said after upgrading many of its country ratings in 2010, Coface had downgraded 10 country ratings including those for Japan and several countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Raynaud said while the world had avoided the feared “double dip”– a recession upon a recession – and there was growth, there were risks ahead. “The recovery has progressed very well thanks to the very pragmatic policy implemented by the US,” she said. But in the face of rising oil prices and political instability in many countries, Coface has revised down its world growth forecast from 3.4% to 3.2% (1.7% for the advanced countries and 5.6% for the emerging countries) compared with 4.2% in 2010. These forecasts also factor in the impact of the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis and the expected slowdown in emerging economies, especially Asian countries.