Risks to an “uneven and weaker-than-expected” global economic recovery have increased, the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee said.
At the end of meetings of finance ministers in Washington, the International Monetary and Financial Committee also said in a statement today that “exchange rates should be allowed to respond to changing fundamentals.”
The committee said it is committed to “lifting potential growth and to creating a more robust, sustainable, balanced, and job-rich global economy.” It vowed to “pursue bold and ambitious measures” to spur economic demand. The recovery is “modest in Japan, and tentative in the euro area.”
“A number of countries face the prospect of low or slowing growth, with unemployment remaining unacceptably high,” the IMFC said. “A revival in economic activity is underway in some advanced economies, notably in the United States and United Kingdom.”
The IMFC said it is “deeply concerned about the human and socioeconomic impact of Ebola.”
The IMFC said it is “deeply disappointed with the continued delay” in enacting a 2010 pact by all IMF member countries that would increase emerging markets’ shares, or quotas, in the fund and boost its permanent lending capacity. The committee urged the U.S., the largest IMF shareholder, to “ratify these reforms at the earliest opportunity.” The U.S. Congress has stalled implementation of the changes. |