São Paulo – This Friday (23) in Washington, at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the IMF’s managing director Christine Lagarde said countries must work together to fight the economic crisis. Lagarde stated that the risks poised to the economies have increased sharply because, since the 2008 crisis, recovery has been weak and uneven. During the event, representatives of the Fund, the World Bank and central banks meet to discuss the world economy.
Lagarde said poor and emerging countries are now reaping the results of the good and sensible economic policies adopted in the past. She stressed, however, that “the South is not immune to the missteps in the global North.” “Let us be frank, the primary burden of responsibility for addressing the current crisis lies with the advanced economies,” said Lagarde.
The IMF managing director mentioned three fronts for fighting the crisis: fiscal policies to minimize the lack of credibility, which affects recovery; financing to strengthen banks and aid them in leveraging the economies; and structural reforms to boost competitiveness and growth.
“Inclusive, job-creating growth must be our goal. But today, we risk losing the battle for growth.” “With dark clouds over Europe, and huge uncertainty in the United States, we risk a collapse in global demand.”
At the opening of the meeting, held on Thursday (22), Lagarde had already stated that the world economies must follow the “four R’s recipe” to re-establish growth, job creation and consumption: repair, reform, rebalance, and rebuild.
According to the IMF managing director, the Fund’s role, in turn, is to carry out economic research focusing on the countries’ vulnerabilities, lending money to aid nations, especially the poorer ones, in health and education spending, and offering training and assistance to empower countries to help their citizens.
The latest forecast for the world economy, published by the IMF last Tuesday (20), points to an average growth of 6.4% in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for emerging economies in 2011. Developing countries should grow 1.6% during the same period. The forecast for Brazil was revised downward to 3.8% of the GDP. The Brazilian government still forecasts a 4.5% growth.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
