US may exceed growth forecast: Lagarde

NEW YORK: IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the United States may exceed a previous forecast of 1.8 percent growth as the recovery picks up speed, but that the country still faces long-term challenges.

"We'll be releasing new forecasts in about a month's time. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was upward compared with our previous forecast of 1.8," Lagarde told US public television's Charlie Rose in an interview late Thursday.

She added that the "recovery is picking up" following the 2008 economic crisis but that Washington at some point will have to address the "long-term issues of the deficit and the debt.