WASHINGTON (July 8, 2009)--The International Monetary Fund says the global economy will perform slightly worse in 2009 than it had previously estimated, but its outlook for 2010 is brightening based on aggressive market interventions by the U.S. and other governments.

The IMF expects the world economy to shrink by 1.4 percent in 2009, slightly worse than its earlier estimate of a 1.3 percent contraction, but it says financial conditions have improved faster than it expected when it made its last global forecast in April, largely because of government support for banks and other financial companies.

The IMF boosted its estimate for global economic growth in 2010 to 2.5 percent, up from its April projection of 1.9 percent.