The IMF raised its global growth forecast Tuesday as efforts to circumvent Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs sparked a bigger-than-expected surge in trade, while the US president stepped back from some of his harshest threats.

The International Monetary Fund still sees growth slowing this year, however, even as it lifted its 2025 projection to 3.0 percent -- up from 2.8 percent in April -- in its World Economic Outlook update.

In 2024, global growth came in at 3.3 percent.

Looking ahead, the IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 percent next year, an improvement from the 3.0 percent it earlier predicted.

Despite the upward revisions, "there are reasons to be very cautious," IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told AFP.

"Businesses were trying to frontload, move stuff around, before the tariffs were imposed, and so that's supporting economic activity," he said.

"There is going to be payback for that. If you stock the shelves now, you don't need to stock them later in the year or into the next year," he........

© Al Monitor