2.3 The pace of the downturn has been confounding the forecasters, and there have been continuous and large downward revisions of growth forecasts during the past few months. According to the latest IMF forecasts, the world economy, which grew by 3,2 per cent in 2008, is now expected to contract by 1,3 per cent in 2009.
If we take a step back and think, we realize that quite a few of the existing arrangements have been shaped amid technical constraints in the past. One such case involves correspondent banking arrangements for cross-border payments, in which funds were transferred from the payer to the payee through multiple entities, creating and discharging liabilities in the process.