TEHRAN- The IMF cut its growth outlook due to West Asia war-driven energy price spikes, but said the world was already drifting toward a more adverse scenario, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

With massive uncertainty over the conflict, the IMF presented three growth scenarios: weaker, worse and severe, depending on how the war unfolds.

The IMF chose the most benign scenario for its World Economic Outlook "reference forecast," which assumes a short-lived conflict and oil prices normalizing in the second half of 2026, with an $82 per-barrel average for the year. That's well below Tuesday's benchmark Brent crude futures price of around $96.

Just minutes after releasing the outlook, IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said it may already be outdated.

He told reporters that with continued energy disruptions and no clear path to ending the conflict, the IMF's "adverse scenario" looks increasingly likely.

The IMF also cut the growth estimate for emerging market and developing economies, where GDP tends to be more dependent on oil inputs.

Nigeria's finance minister Wale Edun, who chairs the G24 group of developing countries, asked the IMF and World Bank to provide more liquidity support, given what he called the negative flow of concessional financing to developing economies.