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| International-UN-NGOs |
| IMF warns of global economic crisis |
| 2011-06-18 |
| [Al Jazeera] A fragile global economic recovery could falter unless Europe averts sovereign defaults, the United States gets its fiscal house in order and emerging economies prevent overheating, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned. In its regular assessment of global economic prospects released on Friday, the Washington-based global lender warned the US and debt-ridden European countries that they are "playing with fire" unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits. It said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies. IMF forecast that US gross domestic product would grow a tepid 2.5 per cent this year and 2.7 per cent in 2012. In its forecast just two months ago, it had expected 2.8 per cent and 2.9 percent growth, respectively. With regard to the global economy overall, the IMF struck a measured tone, saying the slowdown of recent months should be "temporary." It trimmed its forecast for global growth this year only slightly, to 4.3 per cent from 4.4 per cent, and maintained its estimate for robust Chinese growth of 9.6 per cent despite recent signs of a slowdown there. 'Playing with fire' Yet that relatively benign global outlook could quickly fall apart if politicians in the United States and Europe do not start showing more leadership in addressing their countries' debt problems, the fund warned. "You cannot afford to have a world economy where these important decisions are postponed, because you're really playing with fire," said Jose Vinals, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department. "We have now entered very clearly into a new phase of the (global) crisis, which is, I would say, the political phase of the crisis," he said in an interview in Sao Paulo, where the updates to the IMF's World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability Report were published. In the United States, the political problems include a fight over raising the legal ceiling on the nation's debt. A first-ever US default would roil markets, and Fitch Ratings said even a "technical" default would jeopardize the country's AAA rating. The IMF said the outlook for the US budget deficit this year has improved somewhat due to higher-than-expected revenues. In a separate report, it forecast a deficit of 9.9 per cent of GDP, better than the deficit of 10.8 per cent of GDP it foresaw in April, but still near historic highs. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 The solution is to default on the debts. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-06-18 20:25 |
| #3 Yet that relatively benign global outlook could quickly fall apart if politicians in the United States and Europe do not start showing more leadership in addressing their countries' debt problems, the fund warned. Yeah, we been screaming at them too but they haven't been listening. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-06-18 14:39 |
| #2 fragile global economic recovery could falter There is no recovery to falter, just an illusion of one using smoke and mirrors. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-06-18 11:44 |
| #1 Which in turn, once again, may hamper iff not prevent .... * COASTTOCOASTAM/C2CAM > DARPA LAYS OUT TECH FOR 100-YEAR STARSHIP PROBLEM. Moon, Mars, and dem Mayan Stars. as combined wid Political, Pert waffling on dev "universal" scientific consensus as per "PEAK EVERYTHING" + GLOBAL WARMING-CLIMATE CHANGE [GWCC]. D *** NG IT, I LIKE BLUEBERRY + BUTTERMILK WAFFLES MYSELF BUT DATS BESIDE THE POINT! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-06-18 00:53 |