Economy
IMF: Asia Drives Global Growth Despite Slowing Q2 GDP Expansion
The IMF reported global GDP growth slowed to 0.7% in Q2 2026 from 0.8% in Q1, with Asia contributing 0.4 percentage points—the largest share—while advanced economies raised their contribution to 0.2% and emerging economies’ contribution fell to 0.5%.
The International Monetary Fund announced that global real GDP growth decelerated to 0.7% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 0.8% in the first quarter—a decline of 0.1 percentage point.
In a formal statement, the institution confirmed the figure, specifying that global real GDP growth stood at 0.7% in Q2 2026 compared with 0.8% in Q1 of the same year.
Regional Growth Performance
Across the six most recent quarters, average global GDP growth held steady at 0.8%. Europe’s economy expanded by 0.6% in the latest quarter after recording zero growth in Q1. Asia’s growth rate eased to 0.9% from 1.3%, while North and South America each maintained unchanged growth of 0.5%. Africa’s growth rose to 1.6% from 1.3%, and Oceania increased to 0.5% from 0.4%.
Asia’s Dominant Contribution to Global Expansion
Asia accounted for the largest portion of global growth—0.4 percentage points—during Q2 2026. Europe contributed 0.1 percentage points, as did the Americas collectively and Africa individually. Advanced economies saw their GDP growth rise to 0.5% in Q2 from 0.4% in Q1. In contrast, emerging economies’ growth slowed to 0.9% from 1.1%.
Contribution Shifts Between Economy Groups
As a result, the contribution of advanced economies to global GDP growth increased to 0.2 percentage points in Q2, up from 0.1 percentage points in Q1. Meanwhile, the contribution of emerging economies declined to 0.5 percentage points from 0.7 percentage points in the prior quarter.
