The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday projected that growth in Asia and the Pacific will slow to 3.9 percent this year amid escalating trade tensions, marking a 0.5 percentage point decline from its previous projection.
"A leader in global trade, Asia accounted for nearly 60 percent of global growth in 2024. However, the region's successful growth model, based on trade liberalization and integration into value chains, faces mounting challenges," IMF officials said in a blog published on Thursday.
"The downgrade of 0.5 percentage point, our sharpest since the pandemic, reflects weaker global demand, reduced trade, tighter financial conditions, and heightened uncertainty," according to the blog.
The German government has sharply downgraded its economic outlook for 2025 and is now projecting zero growth.
According to the spring forecast announced Thursday by acting Economy Minister Robert Habeck, Europe's largest economy could stagnate or contract for a third consecutive year. This follows back-to-back declines in 2023 and 2024.
The latest revision marks a significant shift from the previous official forecast issued in the autumn of 2024, which projected growth of 1.1 percent. Habeck attributed the downgrade primarily to "Donald Trump's trade policies," saying the U.S. threat and imposition of tariffs have significantly heightened global economic uncertainty and dampened growth prospects.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the possibility of direct Russia-Ukraine talks during their meeting in Moscow, local media reported Friday citing Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov said the talks focused on the possibility of restarting direct negotiations between representatives from Russia and Ukraine, and said the meeting helped to further align the positions of Russia and the United States, both on Ukraine and on other international issues.
He called the talks constructive and useful, adding that dialogue between Moscow and Washington would continue at various levels.
At least 21 Palestinians were killed on Friday in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's civil defense authorities.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, reported that nine people were killed and several others injured when Israeli aircraft struck a house east of al-Fakhari town, southeast of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Additional airstrikes were reported in Gaza City and other areas around Khan Younis, Basal added. The Israeli army has not issued a comment regarding these incidents.
California's economy has overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy, behind only the United States, China and Germany in global economic rankings.
Gavin Newsom, California's governor, made the announcement on Wednesday, citing the latest data from the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Golden State's nominal GDP reached 4.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, surpassing Japan's 4.02 trillion dollars, said Newsom's office amid tensions between California and federal trade policies.
A small police plane crashed near the shore of Thailand's resort town of Hua Hin on Friday morning, killing six people, the Thai police said.
The Thai national police said on its social media page that the aircraft of the police aviation division crashed into the sea off Cha-am District, Phetchaburi Province shortly after taking off from the nearby Hua Hin airport, with all six on board killed.
The police said the accident took place when the plane was conducting a test flight for parachute training.■