The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected global economic growth at 4.3 percent in both 2005 and 2006, its managing director Rodrigo de Rato said here Saturday.

But he told a meeting attended by finance officials from 20 major developed and developing nations that the IMF sees some significant risks that under certain circumstances could increase the vulnerability of the global economy, such as those stemming from higher oil prices, global imbalances and increased protectionism in the world.

Oil producers can begin to increase investment in new facilities, while oil-consuming countries need to start increasing refining capacity and to take measures to curb oil demand, such asimproving conservation and energy efficiency, Rato said.

He said imbalances among economies would pose serious risks to prosperity because they were clearly unsustainable. He warned of the danger of a disorderly way of correcting global imbalances through an abrupt decline in the US dollar and a rise in US interest rates, and called for a stronger policy of all the big economies to address the global imbalance.

In addressing the problem of increased protectionism in the world, Rato said he would like to join the voices on the urgency of getting an agreement regarding the multilateral liberalization of the world trade in the Hong Kong meeting of the Doha round. He said that the proposals submitted recently by the United States, the G-20, and the European Union looked promising as a good starting point for a series of negotiations to take place before the end of November.

Source: Xinhua