chief to policymakersLalit K JhaWashington, Oct 13 (PTI) IMF chief Christine Lagardetoday called on the policymakers to take benefit of the globalbroad-based economic recovery -- the best in a decade -- andtake decisions with an aim to make the recovery "sustainable".
"Our suggestion is that it is not time to be complacent;it is time to take those policy decisions that will actuallyenable more people and more countries to benefit from thatrecovery that should be made sustainable," Lagarde toldreporters at a news conference here at the start of the annualmeeting of the IMF and the World Bank.
"And that is the question that we will put to thepolicymakers, to the finance ministers, and to the governorsof the central banks who will be attending the meetings," shesaid.
Noting that the recovery was stronger and much morebroad-based than in the recent years, Lagarde said theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) expects higher global growththis year (3.6 per cent) and in the next (3.7 percent).
"So in both the cases, 0.1 percentage points higher thanour July projection and certainly much higher than the 3.2growth that we had in 2016," she said.
"What has not changed, though, is that the recovery isnot complete," Lagarde warned.
Last year, 47 countries experienced negative growth on aper capita basis, including many small and fragile economies.
"Far too many people across all types of economies areseeing their aspirations limited by the impact of technologyand the repercussions of excessive income inequality," the IMFboss said.
"The result is growing political tensions in many placesand increased skepticism about the benefits of globalisation,"she said.
Proposing her policy agenda, Lagarde said the firstpriority should be to secure the recovery.
"This includes monetary policy that continues to supportthe recovery while also recognising risks created by easyfinance conditions. And that is a subtle balancing act whichwill be determined by the situation of the country based onthe independence of the banks and their mandate," she said.
On the fiscal front, the IMF chief advised the countriesto make investments in critical areas like infrastructure,education, and allowing women to access the labor market.
"Other countries should use this moment of better andstronger recovery to reduce public debt relative to GDP," shesaid.
Lagarde said the structural reforms will vary fromcountry to country and will be based on reform of the labormarket, reform of access to the service markets, removing therents that sometimes cripple those markets, removing barriers.
"Many of those challenges actually cut across borders,"she said, underscoring the need to make progress on a range ofissues including fighting corruption, tackling climate change,and improving the global trading system.
"Fostering this kind of cooperation is the way that wecan best serve our 189 member countries in order to help thembuild a more inclusive, more resilient global economy," shesaid. PTI LKJ CHTCHT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.