International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde said Friday that the IMF will cut its global growth forecasts in the next month, adding that a weaker global economy will bring more trouble for Japan in the form of a stronger yen.
The world economic outlook will be "tilted to the downside," Ms. Lagarde said at a news conference in Tokyo. "Tilted means there's not an enormous variation, but it's a negative variation," she said, without providing any figures or details of which regions would be affected.
The IMF's world economic outlook is revised quarterly. In the latest update in April, the fund predicted global growth of 3.5% in 2012, revised upwards from a 3.3% forecast in January, and forecast 4.1% growth in 2013, up from 3.9%. The updated report will be released July 16.
The fund leader expressed concern about the outlook for the global economy as the euro-zone debt crisis rumbles on, and urged more concerted action on the part of U.S. and European leaders.
Fears that the global slowdown may be worsening prompted policy responses from central banks on Thursday, as the ECB cut its key interest rate to a historical low of 0.75% and the People's Bank of China cut a one-year yuan lending rate to 6%. The Bank of England also decided to increase the size of its bond-buying program.
Ms. Lagarde said she didn't know if the moves were coordinated, but said the global action shows that "central banks are facing similar issues."
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