IMF chief: Growth strong but countries must ready for change

JAKARTA - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday that the global economy was showing broad-based growth, but the landscape was shifting with heightened risks of trade disputes, monetary policy normalization and technological change.

Lagarde, speaking to an IMF conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, in preparation for the Fund's annual meetings in Bali in October, said the IMF was expecting global growth to reach 3.9 percent in 2018 and 2019. This is unchanged from the IMF's forecast in January and up from 3.7 percent in 2017.

She said ASEAN countries were preparing for higher interest rates in advanced economies such as the United States and Europe, but cautioned that policymakers need to stay vigilant about its effect on financial stability and volatile capital flows.