(Adds details, IMF comment, byline)
By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON, March 17 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract 0.6 percent this year, an IMF official said on Tuesday, putting the world firmly in an economic recession.
Teresa Ter-Minassian, an adviser to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, told reporters the figure would likely be released shortly by the IMF.
It compares with the IMF's last official forecast, released in January, which pointed to the world growth at a virtual standstill at 0.5 percent.
In Washington, an IMF spokesman said the figures provided by Ter-Minassian were "unofficial and already out of date" suggesting upcoming IMF forecasts could be even gloomier.
The spokesman said the IMF would release updated estimates for global growth late this week and a more comprehensive assessment ahead of IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington on April 24 and 25.
In other figures provided by Ter-Minassian, the IMF also cut its forecast for major economies. It now sees the United States economy shrinking 2.6 percent this year, compared with a January forecast of a 1.6 percent contraction.
The euro zone economy is expected to contract 3.2 percent, down from January's forecast of a 2 percent decline.
Japan's economy is set to dive 5 percent this year, sharply down from the IMF's last forecast of a 2.6 percent contraction.
Until now, the IMF has only said it will cut its global 2009 growth forecast to "below zero" after worse-than-expected fourth quarter data, in what Strauss-Kahn calls the "Great Recession".
Strauss-Kahn told Reuters last week that advanced economies were moving too slowly in ridding banks of problems assets, which could jeopardize a global recovery in 2010.
"The scenario will be worse, but the managing director has already said this," Ter-Minassian said at a conference in Lisbon. "This is a true global crisis, impacting all parts of the world and countries at different levels of development."
The IMF's next official forecasts for the world economy will be released before the IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington on April 24 and 25.
Following are a breakdown of forecasts provided by the official:
2009 2010
Global economy -0.6 2.3
United States -2.6 0.2
Euro zone -3.2 0.1
Japan -5.0 0.0
United Kingdom -3.8 -0.2
Canada -2.0 1.2
G7 -3.2 0.2
Asia 3.6 5.8
Latin America -0.6 2.3 (For details of IMF's January forecasts please double click on [ID:nN28509162]) (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; writing by Axel Bugge and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Andrea Ricci)