The International Monetary Fund Chief, Ms Christine Lagarde, on Friday warned that the global economy was slowing, with a soon-to-be published growth outlook lower than earlier forecasts.

Speaking in an economic forum in Tokyo, Ms Lagarde said, “What I can tell you is that it will be tilted to the downside and certainly lower than the forecast that was published three months ago.”

In April, the IMF hiked its global growth forecasts to an annual rate of 3.5 per cent this year, accelerating to 4.1 per cent in 2013, up from the January forecast of 3.3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Ms Lagarde declined to elaborate on its upgraded assessment due later this month but said that the outlook since the last IMF forecast had “regrettably” become “more worrisome”.

The IMF had said its improved global forecast in April was due in part to better global financial conditions and easing fears about the Eurozone crisis.

“The outlook for the global economy is slowly improving again but is still very fragile,” it said at the time.

On Tuesday, the IMF cut its growth forecast for the US economy and warned that the Obama administration could be slicing the deficit too fast for the weak economy.

The IMF estimated 2012 US economic growth at 2 per cent, down from an April forecast of a 2.1 per cent expansion for the world’s biggest economy.

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