The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday downgraded its forecast for the U.S. economy this year and warned that political discontent threatens global growth. The IMF cut its estimate for U.S. economic growth in 2016 to 1.6 percent from the 2.2 percent it had predicted in July. The economy grew 2.6 percent in 2015. The fund's dimmer outlook for the United States comes even as the Federal Reserve (Fed) is thought to be preparing to raise interest rates in December. The American economy had been sputtering since late last year, mainly due to weak business investment. The IMF blames the U.S. investment drought on cutbacks in the energy industry, a strong dollar that is depressing exports, and "policy uncertainty" surrounding the November elections. The IMF said that weakness in the United States is offset by improving prospects among developing economies. Commodity prices have stabilized after last year's free fall, which badly damaged developing countries that export raw materials such as iron ore and cooper. The fund left unchanged its forecast for overall global growth this year at a lackluster 3.1 percent.
