IMF hikes outlook for world economic growth to 5.2 percent

WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday raised its world economic growth forecast for 2007 and 2008 to 5.2 percent, from 4.9 percent, led by robust expansion in China, India and Russia.
"The global economy continued to expand at a brisk pace in the first half of 2007," the IMF said, in a revision of its World Economic Outlook (WEO) published in April.
"The major upward revisions have been for emerging market and developing countries, with growth projections substantially marked up for China, India and Russia," the IMF said in a statement.
China was expected to see growth of 11.2 percent in 2007, 1.2 percentage points higher the forecast in April. India's pace was put at 9.0 percent and Russia's at 7.0 percent, both revised upward 0.6 point.
For the United States, the world's biggest economy, which grew a tepid 0.7 percent in the first quarter, the IMF said it now expects growth of 2.0 percent this year, 0.2 percentage points lower than projected in the April WEO.
"Although growth in the United States slowed in the first quarter, recent indicators suggest that the economy regained momentum in the second quarter," the Washington-based financial institution said, predicting a "return to potential by mid-2008."

07/25/2007 15:01 GMT