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Growth falls below expectations in a number of major emerging market economies.

The International Monetary Fund stepped up its warnings Monday on risks to the global economy, mainly from the crisis-mired eurozone, as it trimmed its growth forecast for the rest of the year.

IMF economists said that the frail situations in Spain and Italy especially could quickly turn worse amid market doubts over eurozone leaders' resolve in implementing pledged reforms.

But they also pointed to the U.S. "fiscal cliff" trajectory which, if not corrected, could crunch the U.S. economy and heavily impact the rest of the world.

"In the past three months, the global recovery, which was not strong to start with, has shown signs of further weakness," the fund said in its quarterly economic forecast.

"Financial market and sovereign stress in the euro-area periphery have ratcheted up," it said, while growth has fallen below expectations in a number of major emerging market economies.

If policy reactions in major economies remain inadequate or too slow, the IMF said, fissures could deepen, they added.

"The main risk is obvious," IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard told reporters.

"It is that the vicious circle in Spain and Italy becomes stronger, that output falls even more than it does, that one of these countries loses its financial access to markets," he told reporters.

"The implications of such an event could easily derail the world recovery."