IMF's Lagarde Says May Trim Global Growth Forecast

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund
Joshua Roberts | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund may this week trim its global growth forecast because of the situation in emerging countries, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told a conference on Sunday.

"We had a growth forecast of about 3.3 per cent," Lagarde said, referring to the fund's forecast for 2013.

"But I fear that considering what we are seeing now in emerging countries in particular - not developing countries and low-income countries but emerging countries - I fear that we might be slightly below that," she told an economists' conference in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence.

Lagarde said she would not give specific numbers because the Fund would officially publish the data this week.

The IMF had cut its 2013 forecast for global growth to 3.3 percent in April, down from its January projection of 3.5 percent.