IMF chief looks beyond eurozone crisis

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has praised Europe's efforts to tackle its sovereign-debt crisis and said the "breathing space" should be used to complete the repair work on the global economy.

Speaking ahead of next week's spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, Lagarde said the policy moves taken in Europe had helped ease the strain and meant the Fund no longer needed quite so big a war chest to deal with the problems left behind by the financial crisis and recession.

"The steps taken by the Europeans in recent months are a timely reminder of the power of policy resolve and action," Lagarde said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington. She urged European policymakers to "keep up and build on" their efforts, including through action in individual countries, support from the European Central Bank, repairing the banking system and fiscal integration. "The much-expected decision of euro area ministers to strengthen the European financial firewall has also been crucial," she said.

Lagarde's comments came as Italy was forced to pay sharply higher interest rates when it auctioned €5bn (£4.1bn) worth of bonds on Thursday, underlining anxiety in financial markets about the health of the eurozone's crisis-hit economies.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/apr/12/imf-eurozone-crisis-christine-lagarde

[dipsydoodle]

1. Lagarde says IMF may need less money for war chest

(Reuters) - A stronger firewall is needed to protect the world economy from Europe's debt crisis, but the International Monetary Fund may not need as much money as it thought just a few months ago, the head of the global lender said on Thursday.

Speaking before meetings of finance chiefs in Washington on April 20-21, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said a deal among countries on giving more money to the fund would likely take time, signalling an agreement may not be sealed next week.

However, she said economic and financial risks the IMF had identified just three months ago had receded and the global lender's funding needs were now smaller.

In January, the IMF estimated it would need an additional $500 billion (313 billion pounds) to lend and another $100 billion for reserves to erect an adequate safeguard against the risks posed by the euro zone's crisis.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/13/uk-imf-lagarde-idUKBRE83B1KC20120413

[Javaman]

2. Nothing more than trying to further wall paper over the problems.

last time I checked Greece still can't pay back the loans.

so then what?

move along, nothing to see here other than a newly created 3rd world nation that will become the slave labor camp for europe.