German finance ministry source: IMF right to cut global growth outlook

IMF forecasts warning of a global slowdown are "quite justified", a German finance ministry source said on Wednesday ahead of the International Monetary Fund's semi-annual meeting in Tokyo.

"There are risks for global development which we need to look at carefully and that affects the United States and Japan and other countries just like it does Europe," the source said.

"It affects the BRIC countries which are also experiencing downward economic trends," he said, adding that Germany would have intensive discussions with these countries in Tokyo.

On Tuesday the IMF cut its growth forecasts for the second time since April, saying that the global economic slowdown was worsening.

The German source said Germany would strive to ensure that the euro zone crisis was not the sole focus of the IMF meeting in Japan.

He also said Germany continued to believe that while monetary policy could help fight crises in the short-term if need be, fiscal and structural reforms were the only solution in the longer term.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, editing by Gareth Jones)