As for Europe, production has declined since the second half of last year, mainly in Germany, reflecting the tightening of gas emission regulations on automobiles within the European Union (EU), and weaker exports to Turkey and China also have been exerting downward pressure on the European economy recently.
Under these circumstances, in the latest forecasts released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month, the global economic growth rate for 2019 is projected to be 3.3 percent, which was further revised somewhat downward from the previous forecasts released in January. Thus, the growth rate for this year is likely to fall slightly below the long-term average since 1980 of 3.5 percent.