A main challenge facing the United States is to effectively use the limited policy firepower to bolster its economic recovery in the near term, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde (C) speaks at a press conference in Washington D.C., the United states, July 3, 2012. A main challenge facing the United States is to effectively use the limited policy firepower to bolster its economic recovery in the near term, the IMF head said on Tuesday. (Photo: Xinhua)
The country should also restore fiscal sustainability with a balanced approach to medium-term consolidation and complete financial sector reforms, the IMF said in a concluding statement released after its 2012 Article IV consultation with the United States.

In the annual economic and financial checkup of the world's largest economy, the global lending agency forecast that the U.S. economy would grow around 2 percent in 2012 before picking up pace to 2.3 percent in 2013.

The U.S. economic growth remained "tepid" amid domestic and global economic downside risks, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday at a press conference.

U.S. policymakers should take a comprehensive and credible fiscal consolidation plan to improve its fiscal sustainability, but those measures should not be too "extreme" to become a brake on the economic recovery, Lagarde added.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet