The United Nations has cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2016 by half a percentage point to 2.4 percent.

The UN says that action was largely due to downward revisions for Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Latin America.

The UN says in its mid-2016 revision that it lowered its forecast for growth in most major economies, including the U.S., Japan and the EU. But the report kept China and India's growth unchanged.

Meanwhile,  the UN put Brazil's GDP at minus 3.4 percent this year due to political crisis, rising inflation and deficit. That outlook was down 2.6 percent from the UN's earlier forecast.