AlHijjah 17, 1436, October 01, 2015, SPA -- The director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed concern Wednesday about the global economy, weakened by slowdowns in China and the developing world, and facing a potential "vicious cycle" from an expected U.S. interest-rate increase. "On the economic front, there is ... reason to be concerned. The prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and China's slowdown are contributing to uncertainty and higher market volatility," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a speech previewing an IMF report on global growth due next week. Lagarde also pointed to the "sharp deceleration" in the growth of global trade and the "rapid drop" in commodity prices, which is hurting the finances of commodity-exporting developing economies. Lagarde said the IMF global outlook report next week would project weaker growth this year and only a slight improvement in 2016. In July, the IMF forecast a slight slowdown in global growth this year to 3.3 percent from 3.4 percent in 2014, with a rebound to 3.8 percent growth in 2016.
