Dubai: Led by economic recovery in the United States and Japan, the global growth is expected to touch 3.2 per cent in 2003 and 4.1 per cent in 2004, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on September 18.

"We are reasonably optimistic of a normal growth, and perhaps even better, of the global economy," the counsellor and director, Research Department of IMF, Kenneth Rogoff told reporters, while releasing the "World Economic Outlook".

While the US economy is projected to grow by 2.6 per cent in 2003 and 3.9 per cent in 2004, Japan is targetted to grow by 2 per cent in 2003 and 1.4 per cent in 2004, Rogoff said.

He, however, expressed concern that the global economic recovery had not improved the job situation the world over and that Europe was still struggling to recover from the economic downturn.

The IMF economist termed the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting at Cancun as a "tragedy", saying this could slow down the strong growth in world trade.

In reply to a query, Rogoff said the fight against terrorism could cost about a quarter of the economic growth for US on an average in the next 20 years.

PTI