The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to cut its U.S. growth forecast for this year due to higher taxes and spending cuts, Italian news agency ANSA said, citing a draft of the IMF's next World Economic Outlook report.

The U.S. economy, the world's biggest, will expand 1.7 percent this year, down from the 2.0 percent predicted in January, ANSA reported late on Saturday. The next round of IMF forecasts is scheduled to be published in mid-April.

Higher tax rates for wealthy Americans and $85 billion in government spending cuts known as the "sequester" are slowing growth this year, but the U.S. economy will still expand 3 percent in 2014 as previously forecast, the draft report said, according to ANSA.

The world economy will expand 3.4 percent in 2013, down from a previous forecast of 3.5 percent, and Japan will grow 1.5 percent, up from 1.2 percent previously, the report said.

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