Asia benefits from AI build-out: IMF
Strong investment in AI infrastructure is keeping global growth at around 3 percent, yielding major benefits for many Asian economies that supply the hardware, such as Thailand, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday. The artificial intelligence investment boom was already delivering a "demand shock, an investment shock" that could boost growth in advanced Asian economies by a half to one full percentage point, and emerging Asian economies by 0.2 to 0.8 percentage points, she said. "AI, love it, hate it. It's already here," Georgieva said. "That shift into higher gear is what is keeping the world economy growing at around 3 percent, despite the fact we are being dragged down by the energy supply shock," she told hundreds of participants on the first day of a weeklong set of meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok. The IMF in July forecast global growth at 3 percent in 2026. It will release an updated outlook on Tuesday. Some 18,000 people are expected to attend the meetings this week, including finance officials from the IMF's 191 members. Several ministers will skip the meeting to focus on domestic priorities, including US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Spanish Finance Minister Arcadi España,...
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