Prices of oil per barrel fell anew on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund released its 2015 global economic forecast, indicating a weak outlook for the entire global community.

On Tuesday, Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $47.99 a barrel, down 85 cents or 1.8 percent from the previous day. It earlier touched a session low of $47.78. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook Update (WEO) released on the same day, said global growth in 2015 will hit only 3.5 percent. Although it was bigger compared to the year 2014’s 3.3 percent expansion, it was down from the IMF’s previous outlook in October. Forecast for 2016 likewise dropped to 3.7 percent from October’s 4 percent.

“The revisions reflect a reassessment of prospects in China, Russia, the euro area, and Japan as well as weaker activity in some major oil exporters because of the sharp drop in oil prices,” the IMF said. It noted that whatever gains from lower oil prices will be trumped because of the weakness in these major economies. China on Tuesday announced its economic growth had slowed to 7.4 percent in 2014, its’ weakest since 1990. The China scenario will ultimately create a ripple effect to the countries from where it sources its imports.

Canada, meantime, is forecast to grow only 2.3 percent in 2015 and 2.1 percent in 2016. The country’s 2014 growth was estimated at 2.4 percent. Oil exporting countries, the IMF said, are bound to “experience larger shocks in proportion to their economies.”

If there’s a country forecast to hit big in 2015 that would be the United States. The IMF report said President Barack Obama’s bailiwick will grow to 3.6 percent in 2015 from the 3.1 percent forecast made in October. It was also a surge compared to the 2.4 percent in 2014. The country’s forecast growth for 2016 had been pegged to hit 3.3 percent from 3.0 percent.

“The recovery in the U.S. is quite strong and therefore it will continue, despite the appreciation of the dollar,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s director of research, told reporters in Beijing in a briefing broadcast online.

But will the U.S. and the 55 percent drop in oil prices save the world? IMF said probably not because they both cannot cure the deep-seated weaknesses elsewhere, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde said earlier. "Too many countries are still weighed down by at least two factors — the legacies of the financial crisis, including high debt, high unemployment. Too many companies and households keep cutting back on investment and consumption today because they are concerned about low growth tomorrow."

Other key trends and possibilities outlined by the Canadian Press based on the IMF report:

· World trade will accelerate in advanced economies, growing 3.7 per cent in 2015 and 4.8 per cent in 2016, up from 3.0 per cent last year. But growth in trade volume will fall this year in emerging markets such as China before rebounding to expand 6.1 per cent in 2016.

· Weaker oil prices will drag on inflation, with consumer prices rising only 1.0 per cent in the advanced economies and 5.7 per cent in emerging markets.

· Volatility in prices for oil and other resources has raised risks in global financial markets, with a potential for destabilising outflows of money from emerging markets.

· Geopolitical risks such as turmoil in the Middle East and war in Ukraine remain high, though ample supplies have reduced the likelihood of serious supply disruptions.

· Lower oil prices could give both producing and consuming countries the leeway to enact energy reforms. Eliminating subsidies may free up resources for helping the poor or building needed infrastructure.