Greater London, England -- (SBWire) -- 04/22/2011 -- Spread betting and CFD trading provider City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/) takes a look at the activity affecting the financial markets on 12th April 2011.

The price levels reached by commodities have been unexpected.

Such is the assertion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has published its global economic recovery forecast, with world growth predicted to increase to 4.4 per cent this year and next.

IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard admitted that while rising commodity prices, such as oil, may have heightened concerns, this is unlikely to have a serious impact on financial recovery.

However, the UK, Japan and the US all saw their growth prospects revised down by the IMF.

UK growth was slashed from two to 1.7 per cent, while the US and Japan were downgraded by 0.2 per cent.

As well as having its growth prospects reduced, Japan has raised its Fukushima nuclear plant crisis to the highest international level - the same as Chernobyl.

Germany and Russia, meanwhile, enjoyed an IMF predicted growth hike of 0.3 per cent.

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