WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting a lower rate of global economic growth based on high unemployment, a reduction in global trade as well as poor productivity across advanced and developing economies, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde stated on Tuesday.
"Growth is lower. We have recovery, but the pace at which recovery takes place is lower than what it was," Lagarde said in a press conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
The IMF has additional concerns regarding the Chinese economic slowdown. The recent downturn in Chinese markets in the past several months was "predictable," Lagarde noted, but had "more spillover effects in the region… than what was anticipated."
The IMF is also weighing the impact of financial volatility caused by the anticipated interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
The changes in US monetary policy "will have consequences in terms of currency valuations and in terms of movement of capital," Lagarde warned.
Lagarde’s comments come only days after the Federal Reserve decided to leave benchmark interest rates unchanged, at near zero.
The IMF said it will be releasing its official projections on global growth in the coming weeks.
