The IMF will produce an updated forecast later this month, but the agency's managing director, Christine Lagarde, warned that this year will be disappointing. The recovery from the Great Recession, which followed the international financial crisis, continues. China's slowdown The other big issue is China's slowing economic growth. t could not have been sustained indefinitely at the annual average of 10% that the official data shows for the 30 years up to 2010. Throughout the slowdown, which began around the start of the current decade, the question has been: will it be a smooth transition or not, a hard or soft landing? One of the reasons for those latest falls was data pointing to a decline in manufacturing activity in December, more evidence in other words of the economy shifting down a gear. China's slowdown has been a central factor in another development: the recent falls in global commodity prices oil, metals and foods. China is not the only factor, especially in the oil market, but it's an important one for many commodities. From http://www.bbc