(Photo: Bloomberg)

The Wall Street brokerage now sees global growth slowing this year to about 2.2%, 0.25% higher than their previous estimate, made last November. Citigroup said its cautious pessimism is due to China's stronger and clearer economic outlook than previously estimated, stagnation in the euro area as opposed to the contraction estimated earlier, and resilience in the US. Citigroup warned that global inflation is still running somewhere in the 6-7% range, well above central bank targets.