According to the International Monetary Fund’s April 2019 World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, the global economy drifted away from the solid expansionary momentum witnessed since 2017 as the second half of the year 2018 was swathed by the recent emergence of various downside risks. In figures, the IMF envisaged global economic growth to slow from 3.6% in 2018 to 3.3% in 2019, compared to previous growth estimates of 3.7% in each of 2018 and 2019 in its October 2018 WEO report. The IMF attributed its downwardly revised growth figures for the global economy to the tamed activity across advanced economies since mid-2018 as China introduced stringent regulations to combat shadow banking, trade tensions between China and the United States intensified, natural disasters ravaged Japan, and the Euro area struggled with waning consumer and business confidence, a drop in external demand from Asian emerging economies, and a myriad of country-specific issues. These issues include the negative repercussions of the adoption of new environmental standards on German car production, a contraction in investment activity in Italy in light of its larger sovereign spreads, and the ambiguity surrounding the future of the Brexit. Paradoxically, the report mentioned the United States’ solid economic performance, mainly driven by robust consumption levels and an improved job market, despite a tempering investment activity. In this vein, the IMF anticipated growth in advanced economies to deteriorate from 2.2% in 2018 to 1.8% in 2019. Delving further into details, the report projected real growth in 2019 to reach 2.3% in the United States, 1.3% in the Euro area, 1.2% in the United Kingdom, and 1.0% in Japan. As far as emerging markets and developing nations are concerned, the IMF saw mixed results as emerging Asia’s economic prospects remain rather rosy, while those of other developing nations are bound by structural constraints such as challenging financial conditions and large public debt burdens, in addition to other paralyzing factors like geopolitical turmoil and low commodity prices. Overall, the report predicted growth in emerging markets and developing economies to slightly decelerate from 4.5% in 2018 to 4.4% in 2019. On the longer run, and always according to the report, global economic growth will most likely flatten at around 3.5% on average as growth across developed nations should continue diminishing to align with its potential level, while growth in emerging and developing nations will stabilize. The report also pointed to the swelling weights of the Chinese and Indian economies in the global output. The IMF accordingly predicted world economic growth to reach 3.6% in 2020 and 3.7% by 2024, slipping to 1.7% then 1.6% for advanced economies while improving to 4.8% then 4.9% for emerging and developing countries. On the regional front, the WEO report projected growth in the Middle East & North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) region to ease from 1.8% in 2018 to 1.5% in 2019, before rebounding to 3.2% in 2020 then sliding back to 2.8% by 2024. Growth forecasts for the MENAP region were downwardly revised from 2.4% for 2018 and 2.7% for 2019 in the IMF’s October 2018 WEO report. These revisions mainly come in light of the persisting regional political instabilities, the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran, and the slowdown in oil-GDP growth in Saudi Arabia. Locally, the IMF’s economic growth estimates for Lebanon were downwardly revised to 0.2% for 2018 (down from a previous estimate of 1.0% in its October 2018 WEO report) and 1.3% for 2019 (down from 1.4% previously). In fact, the report mentioned the mounting debt service and “tighter financial conditions” as key deterrents to the country’s economic activity. The IMF expected, however, Lebanon’s real GDP growth to accelerate to 2.0% in 2020 and 3.3% by 2024. In parallel, it anticipated the country’s current account deficit to GDP ratio to widen from 27.0% in 2018 to 28.2% in 2019 and 28.4% in 2020, before narrowing to 22.1% by end of 2024. Furthermore, the IMF projected the average annual inflation rate in Lebanon to recede to 2.2% in 2019, from 4.0% in 2018, before edging slightly higher to 2.4% in 2020.