The IMF cut its forecast for Italian GDP growth to 1.7 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent in 2008, the daily Il Sole 24 Ore said, citing a draft of the agency's World Economic Outlook expected next week.
In April, the IMF had forecast Italian growth at 1.8 per cent in 2007 and 1.7 per cent in 2008. This compares to estimates released in September by Italian economy minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa that Italian GDP will grow slightly less than the previously forecast 2.0 per cent in 2007 and will grow somewhere between 1.3 and 1.6 per cent in 2008, compared with the earlier forecast of 1.9 per cent.
The IMF expects world GDP to rise 4.8 per cent in 2008, the newspaper said, adding GDP growth for the euro zone is seen at 2.1 per cent and that US GDP is forecast to grow 1.9 per cent.
