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U.N. forecasts slower global growth this year. Thanks, trade war.

Kimberly Adams May 23, 2019
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Workers stand in line next to a container ship at a port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province earlier this month. AFP/Getty Images

U.N. forecasts slower global growth this year. Thanks, trade war.

Kimberly Adams May 23, 2019
Workers stand in line next to a container ship at a port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province earlier this month. AFP/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Economists at the United Nations have revised their estimates for global growth for this year to just 2.7%, down 0.3 percentage points from its January prediction.

Its forecasts for global trade fell even more significantly, down to 2.7% — nearly a percentage point lower than previously expected.

Many of the issues analysts expected to be resolved by now have not, including a Brexit deal and instability in Venezuela. But the largest geopolitical risk comes from renewed trade tensions between the United States and China.

Slowing growth threatens U.N. development goals, such as ending extreme poverty.

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