Reuters

The United States needs to raise revenues to bring down high budget deficits even though they are helping to fuel global growth by stoking domestic US demand, International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said on Saturday.

Gopinath told a fiscal forum at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings that US deficits are projected to rise for years with one of the world`s steepest curves for debt.

"The high levels of deficits are also supporting growth and demand in the US that have positive spillover to the rest of the world," Gopinath said. "But along with that growth, you`re getting higher interest rates and a stronger dollar and the second two are creating more complications for the world."

The IMF`s fiscal monitor estimates that the US deficit for 2024 will reach 6.67% of GDP, rising to 7.06% in 2025 - double the 3.5% in 2015.

Gopinath said that the IMF`s annual "Article IV" review of US economic policies in coming weeks will again recommend that the US raise tax revenues and reform its costly Social Security and Medicare programmes for older Americans to bring down deficits.