IMF sees fewer risks for global economy
Risks to the global economy have lessened compared to six months ago but their nature has changed, International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato said on Monday.
In a speech in Washington, Rato also said that rapid progress on reform of IMF members' voting rights was unlikely to come at this weekend's annual spring meeting of the Fund and the World Bank.
"Where is the global economy now? I do not think that the risks are greater than they were six months ago," the IMF managing-director said at the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
"Actually, I think they are a little lower. But some of the risks are different, and there is greater consciousness of the uncertainties and paradoxes that lie behind our current prosperity," Rato said.
He highlighted the fact that world economic growth reached 5 percent last year but that skittish financial markets shed 4 percent in value in just a day in February.
IMF officials, however, believe that the US will avert recession and soon bounce back from a housing-led slowdown, while the rest of the global economy is in good shape.
The IMF publishes its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook report tomorrow, with detailed forecasts for growth among its 185 members.
According to a report in the Financial Times Deutschland, the IMF is set to forecast world growth of 4.9 percent this year and 4.8 percent next.
AFP
(China Daily 04/11/2007 page16)
