Davos: IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Monday made a skiing analogy to ask policymakers across the world to follow their own tracks and ensure that the global economy is safe from uncertainties and unseen hazards on the way.
Announcing the IMF’s World Economic Outlook in the skiing resort town, Lagarde said what we want in cross-country skiing is that there is no uncertainty, there are no hazards on the way and that everybody is following the tracks to avoid any collision. “Global economy is in a similar position today,” she said as IMF lowered its growth forecast yet again.
“Does that mean a global recession is round the corner? No, that’s not the case as yet,” she added.
Revising the global growth forecast, Lagarde said the bottom line is that after two years of strong expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising.
The IMF has lowered its global growth projections for 2019 and 2020 to 3.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively, citing slowdown in several advanced economies more rapidly than previously anticipated.
“If the world economy were a cross-country skier, she would have been moving at a relatively high speed last year, but now the slope is changing and pointing slightly uphill. This is still a good trail to be on, but it gets a little bit harder to keep up the pace,” she said.
The IMF managing director said the message is pretty clear for policymakers — address the issues and be ready if some serious downward moves are to happen, be more resilient, more inclusive and collaborative as well as reduce high levels of government debt.
Monetary policy should be data-dependent and exchange rates should be allowed to absorb shocks, she said.
This is also time for reforms in labour market and in infrastructure development, Lagarde said while asserting that the international community must develop a new multilateralism.
Catch the biggest newsmakers and the biggest newsbreaks on CNN-News18, the only news destination. Keep watching CNN-News18 at just 50 paise per month. Contact your cable/DTH operator now!
*Rental/capacity fee of Rs. 130/- as charged by cable/DTH operator may apply. **GST extra.
Source: News18