9 July 2010 / AP, BEIJING
The global economy is recovering faster than expected but Europe’s debt crisis might stall the rebound and governments need to shore up shaky public confidence, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
The IMF raised its 2010 world growth forecast to 4.6 percent from 4.2 percent in April and boosted estimates for the United States and China. But its quarterly World Economic Outlook warned that “risks have risen sharply” and Europe has to quickly resolve debt problems and restore confidence in its banks. Europe’s problems “could spill over to other regions and stall the global recovery,” said Jose Vinals, director of the fund’s monetary and capital markets department, at a news conference in Hong Kong. “Further credible and decisive policy action is needed to resume progress on financial stability and keep the economic recovery on track,” Vinals said. Risks so far are limited to financial markets and activity in other fields stabilized at a high level in May, the Washington-based fund said. It said industrial output and trade grew by double digits and there was a modest but steady recovery in developed economies and strong growth in emerging nations.
