DESPITE months of conflict in the Middle East, the global economy has held up better than expected, prompting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to keep its growth forecasts broadly unchanged.

In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update released Wednesday, the IMF projected growth of 3 per cent in 2026 and 3.4 per cent in 2027, while warning that downside risks remain significant.

“The global outlook is being shaped by two powerful forces pulling in opposite directions,” Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the IMF’s Research Department, said during a media briefing, highlighting them as “the lingering effects of the energy shock from the war in the Middle East and a technology-driven investment boom.”