IMF Cuts U.S., Japan Growth Outlook, German Official Says

The International Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast for economic growth in the U.S. amid rising commodity prices and downgraded its outlook for Japan after the earthquake and tsunami, a German government official said.

Deficit reduction strategies in the U.S. and Japan lack credibility, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook, the German official told reporters in Berlin today on condition of anonymity because the report will be published in Washington later today. The IMF, which forecast 3 percent U.S. growth this year in January, left its latest projection for global growth unchanged, the German official said, without giving time-frames.