Five charts that explain what's going on in a miserable global economy right now

From the most depressed regions in the world, to a mediocre outlook for global growth, here are the latest findings from the IMF's economic healthcheck

A trifecta of downside risks still plague the world economy, warn the IMF

Holy grail of growth remains elusive

Another World Economic Outlook, and another downgrade for the global economy from the International Monetary Fund.

In its latest healthcheck on the world, the IMF predicts growth will fall to its lowest level since the onset of the financial crisis. The Fund estimates a slowdown of 3.1pc this year, rebounding slightly to 3.6pc next year.

A trifecta of downside risks still plague the world: China's rebalancing act, a US interest rate rise, and collapsing commodity prices are all weighing down growth prospects.

Newly appointed chief economist Maurice Obstfeld was stark. "The holy grail of robust and sychronised growth remains elusive" he said in Lima today.

• Storm clouds gather over global economy

Should the IMF be forced to revise its forecasts, they are likely to prove too optimistic.

Central banks won't take away the punch bowl

This year's World Economic Outlook will also be dominated by talk of the first US Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nine years.

But impending rate rises in the US and UK are not a sign that central banks are ready to stop propping up the world just yet. The punch bowl should remain firmly in place, recommends the IMF.

"Accommodative monetary policy continues to be essential, alongside macroprudential tools to contain financial sector risks," said the Fund.

Both Europe and Japan are set to see below-target inflation for the next five years, according to IMF forecasts. The Fund is now calling on the eurozone to redouble its monetary firepower with a longer QE programme that also expands the type of assets the central bank can buy.

Latin America is the most depressed region in the world

The outlook for the commodity-exporting economies of Latin America is grim. The probability of a recession hitting the continent is now 50pc, up from around 35pc just six months ago.

Latin America's fortunes are being pushed down by its biggest economy Brazil, which will now fall into a -3pc recession this year, followed by a 1pc contraction in 2016.

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This is the fifth consecutive year the IMF has been forced to revise down its growth projections for the emerging world as a whole.

In the past, the Fund's research division has admitted its consistent over-estimation of developing world GDP has contributed to its forecasts missing the mark over the last five years.

Recessions are getting harder to shake off

The IMF also touches upon one of the most important questions puzzling economists about the current state of the world economy: do recessions have a permanent, damaging impact on future growth?

The chart below shows the striking degree to which growth in the eurozone has failed to take off in the wake of The Great Recession.

The Fund cites research led by its former chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, studying the 122 recessions in 23 advanced economies over the last 60 years. Mr Blanchard and co find over half of recessions were followed by lower output growth than that seen before the downturn hit.

Academics are divided about the potential causes of these post-recession slumps. But they cite developments such as changes to financial institutions - such as tougher bank lending rules - and the phenomenon of long-term unemployed people dropping out of the workforce, as possible contributory factors.

There's less austerity in the world

Austerity has been the prevailing theme of advanced world economies as they sought to bring down their debt and deficit levels after the onset of the crisis. Indeed, the IMF has been the world's biggest cheerleader for fiscal discipline since it was instituted in the post-war era.

The chart below shows the extent to which the developed world governments have carried out fiscal consolidation compared to their peers (see the eurozone in 2012 in particular).

But the pace of this belt tightening is set to moderate as flailing growth prospects force governments to ease fiscal policy and support growth.

The big exception to that rule is the eurozone, where the belt-tightening is set to more than triple from 2014. And according to the IMF, it is the euro's two biggest economies - France and Germany - where fiscal rectitude is set to be higher than forecast in April.