January 23, 2026 10:22 PM

Lebanon PM says IMF wants rescue plan changes as crisis deepens

The International Monetary Fund has demanded amendments to a draft rescue law aimed at hauling Lebanon out of its worst financial crisis on record and giving depositors access to savings frozen for six years, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said. The "financial gap" law is part of a series of reform measures required by the IMF in order to access its funding and aims to allocate the losses from Lebanon's 2019 crash between the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors. Salam told Reu...

January 16, 2026 8:17 PM

IMF’s growth forecasts to show resilience to global trade shocks, Georgieva says

The International Monetary Fund's latest economic forecasts due next week will show the global economy's continued resilience to trade shocks and "fairly strong" growth, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters on Thursday. In an interview during a visit to Kyiv to discuss the IMF's loan to Ukraine, Georgieva suggested the IMF could again revise its forecasts slightly upward as the World Bank did this week. In October, the IMF edged its 2025 global GDP growth forecast higher to ...

October 15, 2025 10:59 PM

IMF sounds alarm about high global public debt, urges countries to build buffers

Global public debt is projected to rise above 100% of gross domestic product by 2029, reaching its highest level since 1948 and continuing to climb, the IMF said on Wednesday, urging countries to build up buffers to guard against economic risks. Vitor Gaspar, head of the International Monetary Fund's fiscal affairs department, said global public debt levels could soar as high as 123% of GDP by the end of the decade under an "adverse, but plausible scenario," just under the all-time high of 132%...

October 15, 2025 10:29 AM

IMF chief says lack of retaliation against Trump tariffs aiding global growth

Decisions by most countries to not retaliate against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are among the top factors bolstering the global economy's resilience, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday. "The world, so far, and I cannot stress enough, so far, has opted not to retaliate and to continue to trade pretty much on the rules that have existed," Georgieva said during an event at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, noting that this avoided d...

October 15, 2025 10:27 AM

IMF, Pakistan reach staff-level deal on $1.2 billion payout

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on its loan program, which would allow the country to access $1.2 billion after approval from the fund's board. The IMF will provide Pakistan $1 billion under its Extended Fund Facility and $200 million under its Resilience and Sustainability Facility, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about $3.3 billion. Countries under IMF lending programs need to pass regular reviews...

October 14, 2025 10:23 PM

IMF warns of rising odds of ‘disorderly’ global market correction

Global markets are too comfortable with risks, including trade wars, geopolitical tensions and yawning government deficits, which, combined with already overpriced assets, increase the chance of a "disorderly" market correction, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. Underscoring the IMF's warning, U.S. President Donald Trump's revived threats on Friday to hike tariffs on China stoked investor fears of a major asset price correction. The comments sparked a sell-off in U.S. stocks and ...

July 30, 2025 12:23 PM

IMF revises India’s GDP growth upward to 6.4% for FY26 and FY27

India is now projected to register a GDP growth of 6.4 per cent in both FY26 and FY27, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revising its earlier forecast slightly upward. The revision reflects a more benign external environment than what was assumed in its April forecast, according to the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released on Tuesday. For the current fiscal year, the IMF has raised India’s GDP growth forecast by 20 basis points (bps) to 6.4 per cent. It has also...

July 22, 2025 9:44 AM

IMF’s Gita Gopinath to step down in August, return to Harvard University

Gita Gopinath, the No. 2 official at the International Monetary Fund, will leave her post at the end of August to return to Harvard University, the IMF said in a statement on Monday. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva will name a successor to Gopinath in "due course," the IMF said. Gopinath joined the fund in 2019 as chief economist - the first woman to serve in that role - and was promoted to first deputy managing director in January 2022. No comment was immediately available from th...

July 20, 2025 5:06 PM

India becomes global leader in fast payments as UPI processes 18.39 billion transactions in June: IMF

India has emerged as a global leader in fast payments, with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processing over ₹24.03 lakh crore through 18.39 billion transactions in June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Sunday.  In June last year, UPI had recorded 13.88 billion transactions. The rise to 18.39 billion this year marks a sharp 32 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth. Currently, UPI powers 85 per cent of all digital transactions in India and nearly 50 per cent of all real-time d...

July 11, 2025 12:04 PM

UPI impact: India now makes faster payments than any other country, says IMF

India now leads the world in faster payments, thanks to the widespread adoption of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), according to a recent note from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since its launch in 2016, UPI has witnessed exponential growth, while several indicators of cash usage have shown a declining trend. UPI now processes over 18 billion transactions per month, dominating the electronic retail payments ecosystem in India, the IMF noted in its paper titled “Growing Retail Di...