WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Higher oil prices are not expected to hurt the global
economy, said new IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato. There was no chance
that the IMF would cut its forecast for 2004 global growth from its current
estimate of a 4.6 percent annual rate, despite the fact that oil prices are
$5 above the average price used by IMF economists to project the 2004 growth
rate. Rato said the negative impact from higher oil prices is being offset by
stronger demand. At his first press conference since he took office on June
7, Rato also said he would visit China and Japan next week to review the
Asian economy. Rato said the IMF saw no signs of resource inflation in the U.
S. economy and that he expected the Federal Reserve to raise short-term
interest rates at a gradual pace