The global economic outlook has turned gloomy, very much along the lines of the pessimistic scenario in the most recent World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2008. If the US economy moves into recession this year, world economic growth could slow to just 1.6 percent in 2008 , debunking the myth of its "decoupling" from the US. This is the consensus view. Policymakers there are trying to stave off a recession through aggressive monetary and fiscal policy action, but this is unlikely, by itself, to avoid global economic distress. The presence of persistently wide global macroeconomic imbalances complicates such unilateral responses and highlights the urgent need for internationally concerted policy action.

2 p. : graphs