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The organization blamed the rockier outlook on U.S.-China trade tensions, problems in Germany’s auto sector, tighter credit policies in China, uncertainty around Brexit and financial vulnerabilities in advanced economies. In Canada, it found trade conflicts and the oil price rollercoaster have had a particular impact.

While there’s increasing hope that trade issues could be resolved, the IMF said the “risks are tilted to the downside.”

“A further escalation of trade tensions and the associated increases in policy uncertainty could further weaken growth,” the report stated. “The potential remains for sharp deterioration in market sentiment.”

However, Canada is poised to benefit from the trade dispute between the world’s two most powerful economies.

“Trade diversion leads to substitution of China’s exports to the United States: Mexico and Canada benefit most, reflecting their close proximity to, and strong trade relations with, the United States,” the IMF said.

The IMF expects global growth will return to 3.6 per cent in 2020. It predicts growth in Canada will pick up to 1.9 per cent by then.

But Deloitte Canada chief economist Craig Alexander painted a more pessimistic picture in his April economic outlook, also released Tuesday.

“They’re too optimistic,” Alexander said on the IMF report in an interview.

Alexander expects Canadian growth to top out 1.3 per cent in 2019 and improve only slightly to 1.5 per cent in 2020, lower than both IMF estimates and the 1.8 per cent five-year average growth rate estimated in the 2019 federal budget.