麻豆约拍

The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its forecast for world growth for the second time since April. It now stands at 3.3% from 3.5%. That may not sound like much but it reflects years of growing pessimism in the IMF about the potential, particularly for the developed world, to recover from the slowdown.

The 麻豆约拍's Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders tells Justin Rowlatt how uncertainty about how successfully the eurozone will tackle its crisis and America the looming "fiscal cliff" is spooking the IMF's economists.

Unusually Africa, and specifically sub-Saharan Africa, appears to be one of the few chinks of light in an otherwise gloomy world prospect. We hear from Guinea about how debt relief is helping its economy take off.

Plus, how illegal immigrants keep the Malaysian economy on track.