The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for Tajikistan to 6.0 percent from the 3.4 percent forecast in April this year.

In 2017, Tajikistan’s GDP growth rate may slow down to 4.5 percent, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook October 2016 (October 2016 WEO). 

Among Central Asia’s nations, the highest GDP growth rate in the coming two years is predicted in Uzbekistan – 6.0 percent.

In Turkmenistan, GDP growth rate in the coming two years is projected to stand at 5.4 percent. 

For Kazakhstan, the IMF downgraded its 2017 GDP growth forecast from 1.0 to 0.6 percent.

In Kyrgyzstan,  GDP growth rate is projected to stand at 2.2 percent in 2016 and at 2.3 percent in 2017.

Meanwhile, the global growth is projected to slow to 3.1 percent in 2016 before recovering to 3.4 percent in 2017, according to the report.  The forecast, revised down by 0.1 percentage point for 2016 and 2017 relative to April, reflects a more subdued outlook for advanced economies following the June U.K. vote in favor of leaving the European Union and weaker-than-expected growth in the United States.

The October 2016 WEO notes that growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to strengthen in 2016 to 4.2 percent after five consecutive years of decline, accounting for over three-quarters of projected world growth in 2016.

The economic outlook for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) reportedly remains lackluster.  The modest improvement in the region’s growth outlook since April mostly reflects the firming in oil prices.  Higher oil export revenues are providing some relief to the region’s oil exporters and to the Russian economy in particular, where the decline in GDP this year (0.8 percent) is now projected to be milder than envisaged in the April 2016 WEO.  The somewhat improved outlook for Russia is expected to support activity elsewhere in the region, especially in oil importers, given linkages through trade and remittances.