“Rising interest rates and a stronger dollar could push companies into insolvency and banks and governments could become infected,” the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde warned.

FRANKFURT –Global economic growth will be “disappointing and patchy” in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an article published in the German business daily Handelsblatt on December 30.

Rising interest rates in the United States, the economic slowdown in China, the persistent fragility of the financial system in a number of countries and the effects of low oil prices on producer countries “all mean that global growth in 2016 will be disappointing and patchy,” Lagarde wrote.

“And the medium-term outlook has clouded over, too, because low productivity, ageing populations and the fallout from the global financial crisis are putting the brakes on growth,” she continued.

The U.S. Federal Reserve rang in the end to an era of ultra-cheap money by raising its key interest rates earlier this month.

http://www.industryweek.com/global-economy/global-growth-be-disappointing-and-patchy-2016-imf