IMF's Lagarde: Global Economy is Slowing

A relentless deceleration in the economies of the developing world will cause global growth to slow this year and only pick up a bit more pace in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said growth was picking up in the euro area and Japan and still looked robust in the United States and Britain.

"The not-so-good news is that emerging economies are likely to see their fifth consecutive year of declining rates of growth," Lagarde said in prepared remarks, warning they could be hit by an extended period of low commodity prices.

"Global growth will likely be weaker this year than last, with only a modest acceleration expected in 2016," she said. (Reporting by Jason Lange and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)