Speaking during a press briefing, her first in 2023, Kristalina Georgieva highlighted the resilience of the US labor market and the strength of consumer demand despite interest rate hikes by the Reserve federal government (Fed) to fight inflation.
She said there has been a positive shift towards less wasteful purchases of products, which had increased price pressures, towards services, with more diversified sources of growth for the economy. .
“It fleshes out a bit of the argument that we can expect the UNITED STATES be able to avoid falling into recession,” said Kristalina Georgieva.
“And in fact, I would even say that in technical terms, it would be a very moderate recession,” she added, saying that she leaned towards the scenario of a soft landing for the American economy.
The IMF indicated last October that it expects the US economy to grow by 1.0% in 2023, a forecast that might be updated this month. The World Bank is counting on growth of 0.5%, as it announced on Tuesday.
(Report Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; French version Jean Terzian)