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The IMF forecast for 2020 is a sober read - suggesting global growth will rise to just 3.4 percent in 2020 from this year’s three percent. The economic experts also predict there would be no improvement for the ‘big four’ global economies of the Eurozone, the US, China and Japan.

Merkel on the brink: Successor denies rift with German Chancellor

At the end of the IMF and the World Bank’s annual meetings in Washington this week, forecasters concluded the global economy is not yet entering a recession.

But the outlook is not looking positive. Behind closed doors, international and national officials aren’t certain a recession isn’t far off.

Kristalina Georgieva, new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told the FT the ‘chill in the Washington air’ reminded her of an “unfortunately inappropriate” line from poet Alexander Pushkin.

She said: “The breath of autumn begins to ice the roadway.”

READ MORE: Project Fear slap down: Britain set to avoid Brexit recession