IMF says economic snags hitting all types of nations

The International Monetary Fund Tuesday said inflation, recession, and a trade slump are affecting all nations -- from industrial giants and wealthy oil producers to impoverished developing nations. According to its own calculation of underlying inflation that excludes the effects of imports, the report said industrial countries had a 7.5 percent inflation rate in 1979 over 1978. It expected this rate to go up to 9.5 percent this year and recede to 8.5 percent in '81. By comparison, the annual price rise was 2.5 percent in the first half of the 1960s.

For developing countries without oil reserves, the economic record in the past several years has included rapid inflation rates, the report noted. It estimated that in both 1979 and 1980 inflation would be at about 30 percent -- far higher than in the past.