The 20 Worst Economies In The World

The International Monetary Fund recently released its World Economic Outlook — and it's not pretty.

GDP growth projections growth for advanced economies were revised from 2.0 percent to 1.5 percent, while emerging markets were lowered from 6.0 percent to 5.6 percent.

Chief Economist Oliver Blanchard notes, "Explicit indexes of uncertainty, such as the VIX in the United States or the VStoxx in Europe, remain at fairly low levels."

See the worst economies >

Blanchard suggests that this uncertainty is existential in nature, and reflects widespread doubt regarding the ability world leaders to solve the economic problems of our era. He acknowledges that the IMF's forecasts may prove "too pessimistic" if uncertainty is reduced.

The IMF gives economic forecasts for 185 economies.

We scoured the IMF's report and the CIA World Factbook to bring you the twenty slowest-growing economies according to their forecasted compounded annual growth rate from 2013 through 2017.

Characteristics for these underperformers includes:

• Exposure to the financial crisis;
• Reliance on exports;
• Corruption problems;
• Tourism is a dominant sector; and
• Growth prospects limited by debt and/or austerity.

The countries are ranked based on compound annual growth rates (CAGR) through 2017.

#20: Dominica

Est. 2012 GDP: 0.45%

Est. 2013 GDP: 1.25%

Est. 2013-2017
GDP CAGR: 1.7%

Economy: The economy of this banana-producing nation has been increasingly buoyed by tourism. The government has enacted comprehensive reforms since 2003 in an attempt to liberalize and diversify the economy. This island nation is vulnerable to hurricanes like Dean which caused damages totaling 20% of GDP in 2009.

Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook, CIA World Handbook

#19: Slovenia

Est. 2012 GDP: -2.22%

Est. 2013 GDP: -0.36%

Est. 2013-2017
GDP CAGR: 1.66%

Economy: Slovenia has among the highest amount of state control over the economy for all E.U. countries. Unemployment has continued to rise even after recovery from the recession. Foreign investment has declined in favor of India, China, and other emerging markets.

Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook, CIA World Handbook

#18: Iran

Est. 2012 GDP: -0.94%

Est. 2013 GDP: 0.76%

Est. 2013-2017
GDP CAGR: 1.66%

Economy: The government exerts massive control over the economy, and generates the vast majority of its revenues through oil. Sanctions for its nuclear program have devastated the oil-exporting nation. Unemployment lingers in double-digits, and Iran’s most educated citizens seek work abroad.

Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook, CIA World Handbook

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.