IMF Trims U.S. Forecast As It Says World To Weather Greece, China

The bank holiday in Greece and the meltdown in the Chinese stock market "have not changed the broad outlook" of moderate growth for the global economy in 2015, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. The IMF trimmed its outlook for global growth by two-tenths, to 3.3%, slightly slower than the 3.4% growth rate seen in 2014. Most of the decline was due to slower growth in the first quarter in North America, which led the IMF to downgrade its outlook for U.S. economic growth by six-tenths to 2.5%, just above last year's 2.4% growth rate. But the first-quarter weakness was expected to be only a "temporary setback," the international financial agency said. The recovery in the eurozone seems broadly on track, the IMF said. Risks to the outlook remained slightly tilted to the downside, notably from asset price shifts and financial market volatility.

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