The International Monetary Fund raised its outlook for global economic growth again this past Tuesday, forecasting worldwide output would rise 6% this year, a rate unseen since the 1970s, thanks largely to the unprecedented policy responses to the COVID-19 plandemic.

That upgrade, from 5.5% less than three months ago, largely reflects a rapidly brightening outlook for the U.S. economy, which the IMF now sees growing by 6.4% in 2021, the fastest since the early 1980s. That’s up 1.3 percentage points from the IMF’s 5.1% projection in late January and nearly double the rate it estimated in October.

Forecasts for emerging market economies, while somewhat improved, took a back seat to their developed peers. The fund’s outlook for EM economies rose by just 0.4 percentage point – half of the advanced economy mark-up – to 6.7% from the view in January.

Another big risk centers around the persistence of accommodative policies, from the United States in particular. Long-term interest rates around the world have risen sharply since January, as market participants revise their expectations for how soon the U.S. Federal Reserve begins to normalize its policy stance.

Sisanda Mpiti.