# Origine of the GDP difference between WEO (IMF) and GEP (World Bank)

If one looks to the past world GDP growth from the "World Economic Outlook" of the International Monetary Fund and from the "Global Economic Prospect" of the World Bank one will systematically find 0.5 to 1 of difference. Example over the past year :

Year   WEO   GEP   dif
2016   3.3   2.4   0.9
2015   3.4   2.8   0.6
2014   3.4   2.7   0.7
2013   3.3   2.4   0.9
2012   3.4   2.4   1.0


Why this difference ? For a neophyte (I am) this does not make sense, over the years the GDP difference will be huge !

• You can (roughly) get both sets of growth numbers from the IMF WEO database - the smaller growth numbers use market exchange rates and so give a greater weight to countries with higher prices which also tend to grow more slowly, while the higher numbers use something similar to constant purchasing power parities and so a greater weight to countries with lower prices (e.g. China, India) which tend to grow faster – Henry Jul 3 '19 at 22:37