We already know that the International Monetary Fund thinks an ongoing debt impasse in Congress could be “catastrophic.” But just to make sure Washington gets the message, the IMF’s top economist Olivier Blanchard, kicked off his press briefing on the World Economic Outlook with another alert.

The topic’s likely to be the central focus this week as finance ministers and central bankers meet in the capital this week.

While the fund says a government shutdown is likely to have a limited impact on the U.S. economy, but “failure to lift the debt ceiling, would, however, be a major event,” Mr. Blanchard said.

“A prolonged failure would lead to an extreme fiscal consolidation and almost sure derail the U.S. recovery,” he said.