IMF Warns Denmark After Slow Growth

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Denmark, a country sandwiched between prosperous nations Sweden and Germany and one with considerable natural resources like most of Scandinavia, that its economy is facing a number of risks to its growth outlook.

“Denmark has a longstanding track record of sound economic and social policies,” the IMF said in an assessment of the Danish economy published on Wednesday. “Yet output growth has been weak for an extended period.”

The IMF noted that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Denmark has been below that of peers like Sweden and Germany for a longer time and this has continued in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Last week, the Danish Finance Ministry lowered its GDP growth forecasts to 1.1 percent this year and 1.7 percent next year, down from a December forecast of 1.9 percent and 2.0 percent, Reuters reported. The IMF predicted growth of 1.3 percent in 2016 and 1.6 percent in 2017, however.

Comparing Denmark with its nearest northern European neighbors, Germany, to the south, expects to grow 1.7 percent in 2016 while Sweden to the north of Denmark said last month that it expects growth of 3.8 percent this year.