Lagarde: Adopt reforms ‘while the sun is shining’
PARIS: International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has urged France and other countries to push through reforms “while the sun is shining” on the global economy.
In an interview with France’s Le Journal du Dimanche, Lagarde said the strength of the global economic recovery had taken the IMF by surprise.
“In 2017, for the first time in a long time, we revised our growth forecasts upwards whereas previously we used to lower them.”
Global growth of 3.6 per cent was both “stronger and more widely shared” last year, she said, noting that developed economies were now growing again under their own steam and no longer merely being pulled along by demand in emerging markets.
Lagarde said the favourable climate lent itself to implementing reforms. “When the sun is shining, you should take advantage to fix the roof,” she said, using one of her favourite maxims.
Last year’s global growth was on a par with the average of the two decades leading up to the global financial crisis of 20072008. The IMF has forecast a slight improvement this year to 3.7 per cent.
In Lagarde’s native France, seen for years as one of Europe’s weak links, the recovery kicked in in earnest last year.
From 1.1 per cent in 2016, growth was expected to rise to 1.9 per cent last year — still short of the 2.4 per cent forecast for the eurozone as a whole but better than the 1.6 per cent initially forecast in the eurozone’s secondlargest economy.
President Emmanuel Macron aims to consolidate the momentum and bring down stubbornly high unemployment with an ambitious programme of labour, tax and welfare reforms.
Lagarde said the changes were key to boosting France’s credibility at a time when Macron was pushing for reforms at the European level, including closer integration among eurozone members.
But, she warned, “the mission has not been accomplished — and maybe never will — because Europe is not united on moving towards greater integration while maintaining national sovereignty.” AFP