WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. debt default in the event that a politically divided Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit would imperil the entire global economic recovery, a senior International Monetary Fund official warned Wednesday.

But Jose Vinals, the IMF's financial counselor, said he sees the actual risk of such a default as very low.

"It would be a worldwide shock," Vinals told a Washington news conference, at which the IMF released its Global Financial Stability Report.

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