1180 After a strong growth in 2017 and early 2018, the global economy is losing momentum and expected to slow down from 3.6% in 2018 to 3.3% in 2019 before returning to 3.6% in 2020. This slowdown is attributable to a confluence of factors affecting major economies. The factors weighing down on growth prospects include, the elevated trade tensions between the United States and China, the natural disasters in Japan, the introduction of automobile fuel emissions standards in Germany, the tariff increases enacted in the United States and China earlier this year, the sovereign and financial risks in Italy, the weakening financial market sentiment as well as the deeper-than-envisaged contraction in Turkey.