WASHINGTON, Oct 10: Income inequality has increased in most countries during the past two decades as incomes have jumped amid a more recent spurt in world growth, according to an IMF report Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund made the comments in portions released from its global economic outlook ahead of the IMF and the World Bank autumn meetings scheduled for October 20-21.

“Over the past two decades, income inequality has risen in most regions and countries,” the report found.

But IMF economists also found that per capita incomes have leaped higher across most regions even for the world’s poorest, showing “the poor are better off in an absolute sense during this phase of globalisation.”

Technological advances and heightened financial globalisation have stoked inequality, the IMF experts said.

More recently, the report’s authors said that since 2004, world growth has accelerated more rapidly than at any other time since the early 1970s.

Between 2004 and 2006, world economic growth was 3.25 per cent while the global economy has also displayed greater stability.

Improved monetary and fiscal policies have helped underpin growth and stability, according to the Washington-based Fund.

Despite the burst of world growth, the report cautioned that future stability should not be taken for granted by governments and policymakers, as it warned that “occasional recessions” cannot be ruled out.

“Recent turmoil in global financial markets provides a reminder that the task of maintaining expansions requires policymakers to identify and adapt to new risks and challenges in the global economic system as they arise,” the report said.

—AFP