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IMF positive about the future

Jaimie Kanwar

The head of the IMF has revealed some positive news about the global credit crunch...

Speaking to a European Parliament committee in Brussels, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, commented: “There are good reasons to believe the worst news is behind us, but the effects of the turmoil on the broader economy will be felt for some time and a recovery in the US depends upon house prices picking up.

In April, the IMF gave a pessimistic forecast for the global economy as a result of the credit crunch. It said world economic growth would slow to 3.7% in 2008 and 2009, 1.25% lower than growth in 2007.

The IMF forecasts that the US economy will grow by just 0.5% during 2008 and will suffer a mild recession in the first half of the year. However, there are hopes that many of the world's biggest banks and financial institutions are drawing a line under credit crunch losses and have now disclosed the full extent of their exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market and other high-risk loans.