The chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today issued a warning over the economic slowdown in the United States.
Speaking in India, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said: "US slowdown will be both significant and will last for some time."
Last month, the IMF cut its forecast for world growth this year in the face of continued stress in global credit markets, and warned that economic activity could slow even further.
It lowered its global 2008 growth projection to 4.1 per cent from 4.4 per cent, reflecting a marked slowdown from the 4.9 per cent pace achieved last year.
He also said that decoupling between emerging markets and developed economies was a "misleading idea".
"The linkages between the financial and real sector, developed and emerging markets, are much more complex than they were before," he said.
The IMF has cautioned that the main risk to the global outlook was turmoil in financial markets, which would further reduce domestic demand in advanced economies and create more significant spillovers into emerging markets and developing economies.