IMF predicts strongest world growth in three decades next year

WASHINGTON: The global economy should register its strongest growth in three decades this year despite soaring oil prices, which are expected to restrain the US expansion a bit, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. 

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF lifted its forecast for global economic growth to 5% for all of 2004, up from an April estimate of 4.6%. Should the new projection prove accurate, it would mark the strongest growth since 1973, an IMF spokesman said. It also would be a considerable pickup from 2003, when the global economy expanded by 3.9%.