The following points provide the gist of a joint communique issued by the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the policy-setting panel of the International Monetary Fund, after its one-day meeting Sunday in Washington.

The IMFC agrees:

* short-term prospects for global growth have weakened significantly;

* the slowdown in global growth will likely be short-lived;

* the United States should maintain an easy monetary policy to restore growth potential while carrying out a timely fiscal policy;

* Japan needs to take determined action to address structural weaknesses in its financial and corporate sectors;

* Japan should commit itself to an expansionary policy stance until the risk of deflation is eliminated;

* the gradual fiscal consolidation currently under way in Japan is appropriate;

* euro zone members should continue with structural reforms of the labor and product markets;

* fiscal policy in the euro zone needs to be directed toward consolidation in the medium term.