Previously on MoreLiver’s:
Current specials:
Special: Reinhart & Rogoff
Debacle (updated)
(video) Press Briefing: G-24 Meeting – IMF
(video) Press Briefing: IMF Asia and Pacific
Economic Outlook – IMF
Communique of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the
IMFC – IMF
Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda – IMF
IMFC Statements
Oswaldo Tapia S.,
Head, Energy Studies Department, OPEC – IMF
(pdf)
Olli Rehn,
Vice-President, European Commission (EC) – IMF
(pdf)
Pascal Lamy,
Director-General, Office of the Director-General, WTO – IMF
(pdf)
Michael Noonan,
Minister of Finance, EU Council of EcoFin – IMF
(pdf)
Guy Ryder, Director
General, International Labour Organization – IMF
(pdf)
Ms. Eveline
Widmer-Schlumpf, Minister of Finance of Switzerland – IMF
(pdf)
Zhou Xiaochuan,
Governor, People's Bank of China – IMF
(pdf)
(video) Toward a Stronger Eurozone: Fostering
Growth and Completing the Architecture of EMU – IMF
(video) Press Briefing: IMFC Chair Shanmugaratnam
and IMF MD Lagarde – IMF
COMMENTS BEFORE
The IMF needs to overcome its bipolar
personality – Fortune
As officials gather
this weekend in Washington for the semi-annual policy meetings, Mohamed A. El-Erian assesses the
problems and solutions to the IMF's twin personality.
Guest post: Time for a transparency revolution
at the IMF – alphaville
/ FT
The IMF holds its
Spring Meeting in Washington DC this weekend, amid continued debate over how
it has responded to the eurozone crisis. Gabriel Sterne, a senior economist at
Exotix with two decades of public sector experience including at the IMF,
presents his case for reforming the Fund.
Europe is first on the list of concerns, along with a
slowdown in China and US fiscal drag. You would think
that it would be easy, therefore, to produce G-7 and G-20 communiques that were
pro-growth and highlighted the need for countries to act where they have the
space. Apparently, that’s not the case,
with the key players as divided as ever.
COMMENTS AFTER
Statement On Japanese Devaluation (But Nobody
Mention The Yen) – ZH
G20 backs off austerity drive, rejects hard
debt cut targets – Reuters
Finance leaders of the
G20 economies on Friday edged away from a long-running drive toward government
austerity in rich nations, rejecting the idea of setting hard targets for
reducing national debt
Counterparties: The economics of flying blind – Felix
Salmon / Reuters
G-20 Eyes Stimulus Fallout Even as Japan Bond
Buying Praised – BB
In a nod to concerns
that stimulus in one economy often creates challenges elsewhere and could fuel
asset bubbles, the G-20 officials meeting in Washington heightened their
commitment to being “mindful of unintended negative side effects stemming from
extended periods of monetary easing.”
EU Rebuts Austerity-Obsessed Image, Defends
Growth Plans – BB
There is a
“misunderstanding” that the EU and the euro zone are “only fixated on
austerity,” Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters today at
the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings. He said the
EU will slow down the pace of debt-cutting efforts to accommodate challenges,
giving crisis-stricken nations such as Portugal more time if necessary.
Great Recession and Not-So-Great Recovery – Gavyn
Davies / FT
The IMF’s conclusion
is familiar enough: less fiscal tightening should take place in the US this
year, along with longer term fiscal reform; root and branch restructuring and
recapitalisation of the European banking sector is essential; and monetary accommodation
is still needed because it is the only game in town. A familiar message, but
this week there was little sign that any of the major policy-makers were
listening.