Spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is helping sustain annual global economic growth of around 3%, despite elevated energy prices, according to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. Speaking in Bangkok at the opening of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, she identified Asian hardware-producing economies, including Thailand, as the principal beneficiaries. Her estimates suggest that advanced Asian economies could gain 0.5 to 1 percentage point of growth, while emerging Asian economies could gain 0.2 to 0.8 points.
The expansion reflects the substantial scale of AI-related commerce. In a speech in Singapore the previous week, Georgieva said AI hardware and associated technology products accounted for more than a tenth of global goods trade. Apart from the United States, China and India, most leading participants are Asian suppliers of chips, chip-manufacturing equipment and robots. Major technology companies plan AI expenditure of $660 billion to $690 billion this year. The IMF's July outlook, which forecast 3% global growth for 2026, highlighted the benefits for technology exporters alongside the pressures conflicts place on energy importers.
Yet Georgieva warned that AI would transform employment, education and tax collection. The IMF expects approximately 40% of jobs worldwide eventually to be affected, with some improved and others diminished or rendered unnecessary. Exposure reaches about 60% in richer countries, compared with 23% in the poorest. Young entrants to the labour market face the earliest impact as routine starting roles disappear. Singapore's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam similarly warned of declining demand for first jobs after graduation.
