IMF for ‘strong front’ amid crisis

Closer co-operation among financial powers urged to put world economy back on track.

IMF
The IMF sees itself as a key player in resolving the current financial crisis  [AFP]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF managing director, said that the meeting showed the spirit of multilateral effort that had been revived.
 
“There is a kind of revival of the multilateral spirit, the idea that we are facing global problems and that to those global problems, there must be global answers,” he said.
 
Collective response
 

Wrapping up its meeting at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, the panel stressed that “the challenges facing the world economy are of a global nature, requiring strong action and close co-operation among the membership”.

Tasked with maintaining global financial stability, the IMF, whose own finances are strained, insists its expertise and global range make it a key player in resolving what Strauss-Kahn earlier called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

During the meeting, Strauss-Kahn said that rising inflation, especially in food, could have terrible consequences for the world if it continues and action needed to be taken to keep rising prices in check.

“Hundreds of thousands of people will be starving … leading to disruption of the economic environment,” he said.

The meeting concluded on the note that sharply higher energy and food prices have complicated the economic problems and have led to social unrest in developing countries.

Source: News Agencies