(Christine Lagarde met Imran Khan on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)>p>]
Dubai (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund on Sunday warned governments to gear up for a possible economic storm as growth undershoots expectations.
"The bottom-line -- we see an economy that is growing more slowly than we had anticipated," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Last month, the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast for this year from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent.
Lagarde cited what she called "four clouds" as the main factors undermining the global economy and warned that a "storm" might strike.
The risks include "trade tensions and tariff escalations, financial tightening, uncertainty related to (the) Brexit outcome and spillover impact and an accelerated slowdown of the Chinese economy", she said.
Lagarde said trade tensions -- mainly in the shape of a tariff spat between the United States and China, the world's two biggest economies -- are already having a global impact.
"We have no idea how it is going to pan out and what we know is that it is already beginning to have an effect on trade, on confidence and on markets," she said, warning governments to avoid protectionism.
Lagarde also pointed to the risks posed by rising borrowing costs within a context of "heavy debt" racked up by governments, firms and households.
"When there are too many clouds, it takes one lightning (bolt) to start the storm," she said.
Poster Comment:
Socialist and government dominated economies will suffer, and the more capitalist economies will do ok. Just watch.
The IMF and the World Bank are two more organizations the USA needs to pull out of. Christine Legarde is a communist bitch who wants this nation to fall under international control. Too bad there are many politicians here who would surrender their jobs and their nations sovereignty to a gaggle of American hating NWO commies.