CNBC reports that Philippine Central Bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said that the renewed outbreak of Covid-19 infections in some parts of the world has dampened the global economic outlook in the near term.

“Recent events, I think, point to a deterioration rather than an improvement in the short run,” Diokno said.  

“So I would look at the fourth quarter up to maybe the first quarter of next year as worse than the IMF forecasts,” he added. 

The International Monetary Fund said in October that the global economy would contract by 4.4% this year — a projection that Diokno said was “kind of optimistic.”

That latest IMF forecast was an upward revision from its previous projection made in June.