27 Jan 2012

DAVOS / LAGARDE

The IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, has been making the case in recent days for urgent collective action to save the world economy from a downward economic spiral. She joins us from Davos, Switzerland where discussions have continued on how to resolve the eurozone crisis, at the center of global concerns. IMF

Posted at: January 27, 2012 5:57 pm

Duration: 02:32

Available in: SD

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STORY: DAVOS / LAGARDE
TRT: 2.32
SOURCE: IMF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
DATELINE: JANUARY 27, 2012, DAVOS SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
"The euro partners have to do several things―and I will come back to that―with the U.S. and Japan really focusing on anchoring their mid-term policy on solid fiscal consolidation, and where the emerging market economies, particularly those that are in a surplus position, can actually focus a bit more on their domestic consumption rather than rely extensively on either investment or exports."
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
 "The outcome in Greece will result from collective efforts. It will require clearly deliverable adjustments by the country. It will require private sector involvement that is significant and substantial. And it will probably require official support. Official support has already been delivered in the past. Clearly, there is a program underway, but all of that will have to come together and probably be updated in the face of these new economic developments that have affected the country."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
 "Don't forget that the IMF is a guardian of stability and a builder of confidence. And there is a lot to be done at the moment, and we probably will need more funding to be able to respond to a time of crisis. That's the reason why we have started negotiating, discussing, exploring options with our membership at large because it is our membership at large that we care for. So we are not raising funds for the purpose of funding the euro area exclusively. We are in the fund- raising exercise for the benefit of the entire community, just in case there were collateral damages, just in case there were spillover effects arising out the crisis in the eurozone."

STORYLINE:

Amid the heaviest snowfall in Davos, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has been making her case for urgent action to resolve the eurozone crisis, which is at the center of current global economic concerns. The Fund recently sharply revised downward its forecast for global economic growth and in a speech in Berlin, Lagarde mapped a way forward.

Lagarde has taken her messages to the Alpine resort in Switzerland, where global leaders are gathered for the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. At the top of the agenda is the need to find and implement the policy solutions to avoid a downward economic spiral—or what Lagarde as has called a "1930s moment."

She set out some of the policy priorities in a video interview and stressed the need for policy action to be "coordinated, cooperative and comprehensive". The main goal is to get growth going again "because that's most needed. There is too much unemployment around the world," Lagarde said.

While Europe may be at the epicenter of the crisis, today's economic difficulties are being felt in all quarters of the globe, so policymakers and leaders everywhere are responsibility not only "for making sure that their jurisdictions, their countries, their regions, but also the global community does better and actually can manage through the crisis."

For the IMF to play its part, institution has called for  a big increase in its lending resources. The "IMF is a guardian of stability and a builder of confidence. And there is a lot to be done at the moment, and we probably will need more funding to be able to respond to a time of crisis … because it is our membership at large that we care for," Lagarde explained.

Filed under IMF SWITZERLAND .