The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts a return to growth this year for the recession-battered Greek economy and a dramatic improvement in 2017, echoing government and European projections as well.
The forecasts were included in the IMF’s six-month World Economic Outlook.
Specifically, the fund estimates Greek GDP will post a marginal 0.1-percent growth in 2016, which nevertheless would be a turnabout from the 0.3-percent shrinkage recorded in the first half of the year.
Moreover, the IMF also bettered even the Greek government’s forecast for growth in 2017, which is cited in a draft budget submitted to Parliament this week.
The IMF predicted a solid rebound of 2.8 percent for the Greek economy in 2017, which is slightly more optimistic than the 2.7 percent forecast by the Tsipras government.
The fund see a continued deflationary trend for 2016, at -0.1 percent, with inflation rising to 0.6 percent in 2017.
