Hong Kong Market drops 0.7% on growth fears

The International Monetary Fund has warned a further slowdown in global growth in the face of growing trade tensions. The Fund in its latest World Economic Outlook has downgraded its global growth forecast for 2019 to 3.5% and 3.6% for 2020 - 0.2% and 0.1% respectively below its previous prediction. The fund warned that Britain leaving the European Union without a deal and a greater than expected slowdown in China could spark a further deterioration in sentiment and hit global growth, exasperating risks already posed by the deterioration in US-China relations. The IMF called on countries to resolve cooperatively and quickly their trade disagreements and the resulting policy uncertainty, instead of raising barriers further and destabilising an already slowing global economy.