“The World Bank is revising its 2016 global growth forecast down to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent pace projected in January. The move is due to sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices, weak global trade, and diminishing capital flows. Commodity-exporting emerging market and developing economies have struggled to adapt to lower prices for oil and other key commodities. Growth in these economies is projected to advance at a meager 0.4 percent pace this year, whereas growth in commodity importers has been more resilient. Projections are subject to substantial downside risks, including additional growth disappointments in advanced economies or key emerging markets and rising policy and geopolitical uncertainties. In an environment of weak growth and eroding policy buffers, structural reforms have become even more urgent. “Depressed commodity prices have slowed growth sharply in commodity-exporting emerging and developing economies, which are home to more than half the global poor,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, “Economic growth remains the most important driver of poverty reduction. This underscores the critical priority of pursuing growth-enhancing policies to eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.”