The global economic recovery is becoming broader and deeper, led by the United States, and the International Monetary Fund may upgrade its growth forecast for 2004, the IMF's chief said today.
"The recovery is broadening and deepening, with all major regions showing improvement. And Asia, led by China and India, is in the vanguard of the global recovery," IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said in a speech at an international seminar.
"I expect that this will be reflected in an upward revision of the IMF's estimate for global growth in 2004," Mr Koehler said at the seminar hosted by the South Korean government.
He provided no details or time frame for a fresh forecast.
Italian news agency Ansa reported this month that the IMF had upgraded its 2004 world growth forecast to 4.5 per cent from the 4.1 percent forecast issued in September 2003.
The international lender had declined to comment on the report, issued just before the Group of Seven industrial nations' meeting in Florida.
On Wednesday, the IMF raised its 2004 economic growth forecast for South Korea to 5.5 per cent from 4.75 per cent.