World Economic Outlook : A Critical Juncture amid Policy Shifts

The April 2025 World Economic Outlook presents a global economy navigating a complex web of interrelated shocks and policy shifts. Following years of disruption, growth remains subdued and vulnerable to escalating trade tensions, particularly after the United States imposed near-universal tariffs, prompting widespread countermeasures. These developments have triggered systemic effects across trade, inflation, investment, and financial markets, with advanced and emerging economies alike facing downgraded growth projections. The report highlights how policy uncertainty, demographic transitions, and migration dynamics intersect to shape fiscal sustainability, labor supply, and social stability. It calls for coordinated responses to restore macroeconomic balance, emphasizing the need for structural reforms, targeted fiscal strategies, and international cooperation to manage the cascading impacts across interconnected systems such as trade, finance, labor, and demographics.