MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The world economy will continue to see a solid growth despite the recent volatility in the financial market, said a senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday.

    "Our predictions are that we are going to have another year of solid growth, probably approaching 5 percent," Murilo Portugal, IMF's deputy managing director, told a press conference on the sidelines of a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in Guatemala City.

    He said 2007 will be the fifth consecutive year of a strong growth for the world economy.

    The recent tumble in global markets was more likely "a correction after a lengthy period of increase in asset prices" rather than a phenomenon of fundamental change of the economic direction, he said.

    "Growth in the United States is decelerating but is very solid in Europe and also in Japan and most of the emerging markets," he said.