Via the Thompson Reuters Foundation:
The
following are highlights from the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank meetings on Saturday in Washington, where finance ministers and
central bankers from around the globe are gathered.
Many
of the comments come from texts that were prepared for delivery to the
IMF's steering committee, the International Monetary and Financial
Committee, on Saturday.
IMF STEERING COMMITTEE COMMUNIQUE
ON GLOBAL ECONOMY
"An
uneven recovery continues, despite setbacks. A number of countries face
the prospect of low or slowing growth, with unemployment remaining
unacceptably high. A revival in economic activity is underway in some
advanced economies, notably in the United States and United Kingdom. The
recovery is modest in Japan, and tentative in the euro area. Growth
remains firm and should increase moderately across many emerging market
economies, and will generally remain buoyant in low-income developing
countries.
"Downside risks arise from the
challenges associated with monetary normalization in some advanced
economies, protracted below-target inflation in others, increased
risk-taking amidst low volatility in financial markets, and heightened
geopolitical tensions."
ON FISCAL POLICY
"Fiscal
strategies should continue to be implemented flexibly so as to support
growth and job creation, while placing debt as a share of GDP on a
sustainable path. To enhance the contribution of fiscal strategies to
growth, countries should consider changes in the composition and quality
of government expenditures and revenues.
"Formulation
and implementation of concrete medium-term fiscal consolidation plans
remains crucial in many advanced economies. Emerging market and
low-income developing economies should rebuild fiscal buffers where
needed, including through revenue mobilization. Countries should
strengthen institutional frameworks to manage fiscal risks, while
reorienting expenditure toward essential public services and better
targeting subsidies."
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND MANAGING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE LAGARDE
"What
I take out of those meetings is number one that growth is back. Let's
face it. We have recovery. It's not the most vibrant and as high growth
as we would like to absorb the job seekers, for instance, but we have
growth and we have recovery. And the whole point of that meeting was to
put a little bit of fire in the room so that policymakers - governors of
central banks - be energized by their discussion, their note-comparing,
so that then they could go home. ... I would say: Implementation, be
brave. Get on with it and use all your tools."
"Given
the depth of the financial crisis, the fact that it was a financial
crisis that went viral and global in next to no time, and was
accompanied by a real estate crisis in many of the largest economies as
well, I think it's often the case that those crises of such depth and
significance actually take a long time to be rooted out.
"Added
to that you have a landscape with aging populations in various
countries, with unfortunately quite entrenched rather long-term
unemployment, and there are various factors are work in those economies
that actually weigh on the potential growth."...MORE
