The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday announced a sharp downward revision of its world economic growth projections, saying that "global activity is slowing quickly."

The world economy is projected to expand by 2.2 percent in 2009, down by 0.75 percentage point from October forecasts, the IMF said in its updated World Economic Outlook.

Advanced economies are expected to contract 0.3 percent on a full-year basis next year, the first such fall since World War II.

The IMF now expects the US economy to contract 0.7 percent in 2009, sharply down from its estimate of 0.1 percent growth issued just a month ago.

"The US economy will suffer, as households respond to depreciating real and financial assets and tightening financial conditions," the IMF said.

In emerging economies, growth is projected to slow appreciably but still reach 5 percent next year, according to the IMF.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2008)