Fraught with uncertainty and underwhelming, albeit steady performance, the global economy in 2025 will see its slowest growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, stemming primarily from a series of shocks from the United States (US) trade policy and other volatile geo-political tensions around the world. As such, the IMF has forecasted global growth to falter to 3.0 percent in 2025. Similarly, the World Bank (WB), expects growth to weaken to 2.3 percent in 2025, with decelerations in most economies as compared to 2024. Despite the weakened outlook, the global economy is not expected to fall into a recession.

For Latin America and the Caribbean, growth is projected to decline from 2.4 percent in 2024 to 2.2 percent in 2025. This decline is largely due to a revision in Mexico’s growth by 1.7 percent for 2025, reflecting weaker-than-expected activity in late 2024 and early 2025, as well as the impact of the US tariffs, related uncertainty and geopolitical rigidities and a tightening of financing conditions. In Advanced Economies, the IMF has projected growth of 1.5 percent in 2025 from 1.8 percent in 2024. For the Euro Zone, growth is projected to marginally increase to 1.0 percent in 2025, from 0.9 percent in 2024. Following a marked slowdown in 2024, growth in Emerging and Developing Asia is expected to decelerate further to 5.1 percent in 2025 from 5.3 percent in 2024, as within this region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have been among the most affected by the April tariffs.