IMF says Brexit threat to global economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described Britain’s possible pullout from the European Union as a key threat to the global economy.

"It's been a long marriage between members of the European Union," AFP has quoted IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde as saying.

"It's really my personal hope that it doesn't break. Like all marriages, good talks can actually help and I hope that the dialogue can continue," she told reporters in a joint press conference with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

Both Kim and Lagarde later in their comments described tax evasion as another key threat to the global economy.

They further called for immediate actions by the advanced countries to stimulate growth. This, they said, is necessary to avoid backsliding into a worldwide stall.

"In the global economy, there are not many bright spots," AFP quoted Kim as saying.

"The weakening global economy threatens our progress toward ending extreme poverty by 2030."

Lagarde refused to call the downturn a "crisis," but stressed the urgency of a response all the same.

"We are on alert, not alarm," she said. "The current policy responses that we are seeing need to go faster and need to go deeper."

Both noted the rise in the need to support weak economies, many battered by the crash in the prices of oil and other commodities.

Britons are set to vote in a crucial referendum on June 23 to decide whether to back a so-called Brexit - or exit from the European bloc.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is leading the campaign to keep the country in the EU, but faces an uphill battle as many politicians, even from his own Conservative Party, are struggling against the bid.

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