A new projection announced by the International Monetary Fund yesterday predicts that Estonia's GDP will grow 1.5 percent this year, matching the Finance Ministry's own projection.

Next year, the IMF expects the Estonian economy to grow 2.5 percent, reported uudised.err.ee.

Consumer prices are expected to grow 3.5 percent in 2013 and 2.8 percent in 2014.

The organization's prediction for unemployment was set at 8.3 percent for 2013 and 7 percent for 2014.

Economic growth fell below expectations in the first half of the year, resulting in cuts in the projections of banks and financial institutions.

The IMF also cut its 2013 forecast for the world's economy yesterday, lowering it to 2.9 percent, down by 0.3 percent since its last assessment in July. For next year, the organization is predicting growth of 3.6 percent.