IMF lowers global growth forecast to 3.5 pct in 2015

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its global economic growth forecast to 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent for 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The global growth rates in 2015-2016 represented both downward revisions of 0.3 percent relative to the October 2014 World Economic Outlook (WEO), the IMF's flagship report said Tuesday.

"The revisions reflect a reassessment of prospects in China, Russia, the euro area, and Japan as well as weaker activity in some major oil exporters because of the sharp drop in oil prices. The United States is the only major economy for which growth projections have been raised," the IMF said in its updated WEO report released Tuesday.

The global lender forecast that the Chinese economy would expand by 6.8 percent in 2015 and 6.3 percent in 2016 respectively, down by 0.3 percentage point and 0.5 percentage point respectively from its previous predictions.

The IMF predicted the U.S. economy would grow by 3.6 percent in 2015 and 3.3 percent in 2016 respectively, up 0.5 percentage point and 0.3 percentage point respectively from its previous forecasts.