WASHINGTON, D.C.: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded its outlook for the world economy this year and next, blaming Russia's invasion of Ukraine for disrupting global commerce, pushing up oil prices, threatening food supplies and increasing uncertainty already heightened by the coronavirus and its variants.

The 190-country lender cut its forecast for global growth to 3.6 percent this year, a steep fall-off from 6.1 percent last year and from the 4.4-percent expansion it had expected for 2022 in January.