Spending on artificial intelligence is holding the world economy up, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday 12 October 2026, according to Reuters [1][2].
REPORTED by Reuters. TSN could not find an IMF transcript of the remarks, so all quotes below are as Reuters reported them.
What she said
Kristalina Georgieva spoke on the first day of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok. Reuters reports that she said strong investment in AI infrastructure is keeping global growth at around 3 per cent, and that many Asian economies that supply the hardware, such as Thailand, are benefiting [1].
She called the AI boom a “demand shock, an investment shock” [1]. Reuters reports she said it could lift growth in advanced Asian economies by a half to one full percentage point, and in emerging Asian economies by 0.2 to 0.8 percentage point [1].
“That shift into higher gear is what is keeping the world economy growing at around 3 per cent, despite the fact we are being dragged down by the energy supply shock,” she said [1].
What “demand shock, investment shock” means
Economists call a sudden change a “shock”. Here it is a positive one. Companies are spending heavily on data centres, chips and servers. That spending creates orders for the factories and suppliers that build them, many of them in Asia. That extra demand raises output now, before anyone knows how much AI will raise productivity later. Georgieva set it against high energy prices, which are pulling growth down.
The jobs warning
“AI, love it, hate it. It’s already here,” Georgieva said [1]. She described AI as a “slow-moving tsunami” with deep effects on jobs, growth, education and tax, given the expected shift from labour to capital [1]. In plain terms: more of the economy’s income may go to the owners of machines and software, and less to wages. Governments mainly tax wages, so their revenue could suffer.
She cited an IMF estimate that AI could lead to 40 per cent of jobs being “augmented, downgraded or eliminated, over time”, and an initial study showing 10 per cent of US jobs already require AI skills, Reuters reports [1].
At the same event, World Bank President Ajay Banga said the bank is focusing on “small AI” that does not depend on large language models [1]. Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned that “the first rung in employment, your first job upon graduation, is now seeing less demand” [1].
What comes next
The IMF forecast 3 per cent global growth for 2026 in July. It will publish its updated World Economic Outlook on Tuesday 13 October [1].
Sources
- Reuters, “IMF says AI investment keeps global growth around 3%, with major Asia benefits”, via CNA, 12 October 2026. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/imf-says-ai-investment-keeps-global-growth-around-3-major-asia-benefits-6451936
- Reuters, same report (shorter version), via Investing.com, 12 October 2026. https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/imf-says-ai-investment-keeps-global-growth-around-3-with-major-asia-benefits-4943042
