The International Monetary Fund and World Bank said on Sunday they expect to go ahead with meetings of global finance chiefs in Washington this week despite air travel disruptions caused by Iceland's volcanic ash.

Staff at the IMF and World Bank Group are working together on making the spring meetings next weekend go ahead despite the disruption to air travel, the institutions said in a joint statement. We are continuing to track the situation closely.

Ash from a volcano in Iceland has forced airlines to cancel flights, grounding thousands of aircraft across Europe. There was concern that it could affect meetings of the IMF, World Bank and Group of 20 in Washington starting on Thursday.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Paul Simao)

Iceland International Monetary Fund