The IMF has revised earlier drafts of its soon-to-be-published World Economic Outlook, trimming growth forecasts for the euro zone but upping them for Britain and Japan, a German newspaper reported on Thursday.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said in an advance copy of an article due to be published on Friday the International Monetary Fund had also trimmed its draft growth forecasts for Germany.
In the latest WEO draft the IMF left unchanged its forecasts for US growth of 4.6 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2005 unchanged, the newspaper said.
According to the newspaper, the IMF now expects German gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 1.6 percent this year - above a 1.5 percent forecast made last year but below a reported 1.7 percent in draft versions of the WEO drawn up before the March 11 bomb attacks in Madrid.
Similarly, the paper said the IMF now expected the German economy, whose recovery has shown signs of stuttering, to grow only 1.9 percent next year compared with a previous 2.1 percent forecast.
The eurozone outlook has also been softened to show growth this year of 1.7 percent, down from 1.9 percent, and 2.3 percent in 2005.
The IMF will publish its World Economic Outlook on April 21, in advance of its spring meeting and that of the World Bank.