US economic momentum is likely to decline this year to a pace slower than the 2.9 percent forecast in September by the International Monetary Fund, the head of the IMF said Thursday.
"We'll probably see that number of September ... reduced, but not in a significant way," Rodrigo Rato said here, where he met with Dutch government officials.
He said problems plaguing the US residential housing market, along with concerns about mortgage foreclosures, could have an impact on US consumer spending.
But he added that the negative effect would be offset by strong household earnings and a healthy labor market.
The US economy, he predicted, should therefore experience a "soft landing" this year and "a certain recovery" in 2008.
In Washington Thursday the Commerce Department said the economy expanded at a 2.5 percent annualized pace in the fourth quarter of 2006, a bit faster than earlier estimates.
The revision for gross domestic product (GDP) was up from a 2.2 percent estimate released a month earlier.
The latest data meant growth for the full year 2006 was 3.3 percent, unchanged the estimate last month.
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