WASHINGTON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The world economy is expected to continue to grow robustly by 4.9 percent in both 2007 and 2008,according to the World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.

    The 4.9 percent growth, around a 0.5 percentage point lower than in 2006, is in line with the rate forecast at the time of the September 2006 World Economic Outlook.

    Among the major advanced economies, the slowdown in year-over-year growth in 2007 would be most pronounced in the United States, as the IMF report lowered the growth forecast for the U.S. economy this year to 2.2 percent, 0.7 percentage points lower than the forecast 6 months ago.

    "The downward revision for growth in 2007 largely reflects the weaker outlook for residential investment," it said,

    With the stock of new homes for sale rising to its highest level in over 15 years, home construction is falling more sharply than previously expected as home builders move to reduce their existing inventory.

    But the report still noted that the U.S. economy is not heading for recession and the growth forecast for the next year will rise to 2.8 percent.

    Growth is also projected to ease to 2.3 percent for this year and the next in the euro zone, "reflecting both the effect of some monetary and fiscal tightening, and a lower external contribution to growth."

    "So far, activity in early 2007 is being well sustained, although, as expected, consumption in Germany has cooled in the wake of the value-added tax (VAT) increase," the report said.

    Germany, the biggest economy in the euro area, will expand 1.8 percent this year and 1.9 percent the next year, while France will grow by 2.0 percent in 2007 and 2.4 percent in 2008, a little higher than its 2.0 percent growth rate last year.

    The U.K. economy is expected to continue its robust growth of 2.9 percent in 2007 and 2.7 percent in 2008.

    The expansion in Japan would continue at about the same pace with the euro area.

    But emerging markets and developing countries would continue to grow strongly, drawing continued support from benign global financial conditions.

    "Real GDP growth in emerging Asian nations is expected to ease this year and next, but remain at a high level," said the report.

    China, the region's biggest and fastest growing economy, is expected to grow by 10.0 percent in 2007 and 9.5 percent in 2008, just a little bit lower than its 10.7-percent growth rate last year.

    The growth forecast for India will be 8.4 percent and 8.0 percent respectively this year and next, said the report, adding that the ASEAN-4, namely Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, will expand by 5.5 percent in 2007 and 5.8 percent next year.

    According to the report, Real GDP growth in Africa is expected to accelerate to 6.2 percent this year, up from 5.5 percent in 2006.

    Since the beginning of this decade, growth in sub-Saharan Africa has averaged a little over 4.5 percent a year, the strongest seven-year period since the beginning of the 1970s, the report pointed out.

    "These developments have raised hopes that Africa has entered a period of strong and sustained growth that will begin to make deeper inroads into the extremely high poverty rates that still plague the continent," it said.

    It said that the projected acceleration in growth in 2007 is driven by oil-exporting countries. In Nigeria, for example, non-oil GDP has grown by an average of 8 percent over the past three years.

    Meanwhile, the report also urged Latin America, whose economic growth lags other regions, to reverse its productivity performance to promote sustained growth.

    The report said that economic growth in Latin America is projected to drop to 4.9 percent this year from 5.5 percent in 2006.

    "The external environment is expected to become somewhat less favorable as global growth moderates and oil and metals prices decline from the record levels of 2006," said the report.

    "The critical challenge for (Latin American) policy makers is to build on the reforms that have so far been implemented to accelerate growth further, entrench macroeconomic stability, and ensure that the benefits of growth are widely distributed," said the report.