DANGER OF $4 TRILLION HOLE IN WORLD OUTLOOK HAUNTS IMF AS SPRING MEETINGS BEGIN

WASHINGTON - Global finance chiefs gather in Washington in the coming days with the warning of a possible $4 trillion loss in the world’s economic output ringing in their ears.

That’s the Germanysized hole in the growth outlook through 2026 that International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva identified last week as a looming risk.

She’ll play host as central bankers, finance ministers and others confront the fallout on the global economy of rampant inflation, aggressive monetary policy tightening, rising debt, and the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II.

That the IMF and World Bank annual meetings will be fully in-person for the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, showing progress in bringing the pandemic to heel, will be of limited comfort given other headaches.

That the IMF and World Bank annual meetings will be fully in-person for the first time since the outbreak of

Covid-19 in early 2020, showing progress in bringing the pandemic to heel, will be of limited comfort given other headaches. The current confluence of economic, climate and security crises makes it unlike anything global policy makers have seen since 1945. Yet certain elements, such as the emerging-market havoc wreaked by Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes in the early 1980s, chime with the present predicament.

Here’s a quick look at some issues officials will grapple with:

• World Economic Outlook: the IMF releases this on Tuesday. Georgieva said last week that the 2023 global growth forecast of 2.9 percent will be lowered.

• Ukraine: the country Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded in February will stay in focus, from the impact of a depleted grain harvest to Russia’s gas squeeze on Europe. The IMF board on Friday approved a $1.3 billion loan for Ukraine, its first lending to the nation since early March.