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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday warned that concentration of excess deficits in advanced economies may engender protectionist sentiment and raise the risk of disruptive corrections down the road.

"Overall excess current account imbalances represented about one-third of total global imbalances in 2016, remaining broadly unchanged since 2013, although increasingly concentrated in advanced economies," said the IMF in its latest External Sector Report which was released on Friday.

According to the report, excess imbalances narrowed in emerging and developing economies, as China reported smaller excess surplus and other countries, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa, had smaller excess deficits.

Compared to narrowed excess imbalances in emerging market economies, some advanced economies, including Germany, South Korea, and U.S., reported widening excess imbalances.

"The current constellation of excess imbalances-especially the persistent surpluses in the same group of countries and the resurgence of deficits in key debtor economies-indicate that automatic adjustment mechanism are weak," said Gustavo Adler and Luis Cubeddu, two of the authors of the report, in an IMF blog post on Friday.

The report warned that the increased concentration of excess deficits in advanced economies, mainly the United States and the United Kingdom, could raise the likelihood of protectionist measures.

"Diverging stock positions coupled with continued overreliance on demand from debtor countries could also pose risks to global growth and raise the likelihood of disruptive adjustments down the road," said the report.

IMF called on excess deficit countries should move forward with fiscal consolidation and gradually normalize monetary policy in tandem with inflation developments. In regard to excess surplus economies, the IMF suggested them to reduce their reliance on easy monetary policy and allow for greater fiscal stimulus.

It also called on economies to avoid protectionist and mechanist policies which are detrimental to global growth.