Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects

World gross product projected to expand by just 2.4 per cent in 2016 Forthcoming referendum on EU membership has increased financial market volatility in the United Kingdom Ongoing fiscal adjustment in Africa, the CIS, Latin America and Western Asia continues to constrain prospects

Argentina re-enters international capital markets after 15 years Deflationary trends remain a concern in euro area and Japan GDP growth in China in line with government target, but United States and Republic of Korea fall short of expectations

Policy space in many developing countries constrained by El Ni?o Further improvement in labour market conditions in Europe and the United States Monetary stance eases in the CIS but tightens in Africa

Is the zero lower bound no longer a hard constraint? EU-wide strategy to address refugee crisis remains elusive Drought leads to a spike in food prices in Africa and Latin America

Commodity price rout dampens regional growth prospects China emphasized the need to improve productivity through policies on the supply side of the economy Bank of Japan adopts a negative interest rate

Limited global financial market reaction to Fed's interest rate move IMF includes Chinese renminbi in the SDR basket Monetary tightening in Western Asia and Latin America in response to Fed's first rate hike in seven years

According to chapter one of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016, only a modest improvement in the world economy is projected for the next two years Recessions in the Russian Federation and Ukraine may have reached a turning point Unemployment on the rise in a number of South American economies

Global trade flows drops in value terms amid persistently weak commodity prices and stronger US dollar Budget cuts and increasing fiscal strains in many commodity-exporting developing countries

Global issues Decline in capital inflows to emerging markets gains pace Capital inflows to emerging economies continued a gradual but steady decline, amid domestic weaknesses and less favourable exter