IMF trims global growth forecast for 2003

? The world will probably experience “tepid” economic growth this year even with a quick end to the Iraq war because of a host of other problems, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

The IMF, issuing its latest “World Economic Outlook,” trimmed its expectations for global growth to 3.2 percent for this year from an expectation of 3.7 percent last September. Much of the markdown was due to a temporary jump in world oil prices over worries about supply disruptions.

The IMF warned that even the reduced forecast might not be realized because of various threats ranging from lingering shocks from the bursting of the U.S. stock market bubble and rising budget and trade deficits, to rigid labor markets in Europe.

The IMF took the world’s major economies to task for a variety of failings, including too much secrecy at the Federal Reserve and the central banks of Europe and Japan.