IMF Chief Says U.S. Economy Most Likely Will Get Worse

Mumbai–The U.S. economy will slow extensively for a considerable amount of time, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Monday.IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a speech during his three-day visit to India that the global market needs to prepare for a potential ripple effect from the U.S. slowdown, which could also eventually affect emerging economies, The New York Times reports.Much of the concern revolves around uncertainties such as the continued decline of the U.S. housing market, a potential spending decrease and the possibility of more subprime-related loss disclosures from European banks. “The problem is today we have unknown unknowns,” Strauss-Kahn said.The U.S. economic decline may be spreading to the euro-zone sector; concern about the U.S. situation and growth forecasts for Europe prompted the IMF to reduce its predictions for global growth in 2008 last month.