IMF Lowers Italian Growth Forecast

Oct 9, 2007 - The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, lowered its growth outlook for Italy, media reports said Tuesday. The Fund cut its Italian gross domestic product, or GDP, growth forecast to 1.7% from the previous estimate of 1.8% for 2007, the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore said.

The Italian growth outlook for 2008 was slashed to 1.3% from 1.7% for 2008. The IMF forecast is in line with the Italian economy minister, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa's projected growth of below 2.0%. For 2008, the minister sees the growth in the range of 1.3% to 1.6%.

The GDP outlook of the IMF for the U.S. in 2008 now stands at 1.9%, a drastic reduction from the 2.8% previously estimated.

At the same time, the Euro zone growth outlook was lowered to 2.1% from 2.5% for 2008, while the forecast for was reduced to 1.7% from 2.0%.

Reports said that the IMF has also reduced German growth forecast to 2.0% from 2.4% estimated earlier. For Britain, the Fund slashed the figures to 2.3% from 2.7% and for France, the outlook was lowered to 2.0% from 2.3%.

The IMF expects world GDP to rise 4.8% in 2008.