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IMF / LAGARDE
STORY: IMF / LAGARDE
TRT: 2:23
SOURCE: IMF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 SEPTEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC / RECENT
RECENT - WASHINGTON DC
1. Wide shot, exterior IMF headquarters
21 SEPTEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC
2. Wide shot, Managing Director Christine Lagarde enters IMF briefing room
2. Med shot, Lagarde taking seat
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
“The recovery that one was expecting has weakened and it’s clearly a risk that we see from an economic perspective, from a social perspective as well, because with less growth we see also less jobs.”
5. Wide shot, news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
“Each and every country, each and every member of our institutions, we are in this together and we can pull out of this together because from the Fund’s perspective, our analysis says that there is a path for recovery.”
7. Med shot, reporters
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
“It’s a balancing act, once again, and there has to be a parallel track of what can accommodate growth in the short term by slowing down the pace of consolidation and how strongly and definitely and well-anchored are the measures that will deliver deficit reduction in the longer term.”
9. Wide shot, reporters
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF: “There are several European countries, for instance, that have taken those very necessary measures and that are in the process of implementing them. So there is, obviously, a gap between the sort of day-to-day anxiety and trepidation of markets, which have their own modus operandi, and what we at the Fund do in terms of what’s the commitment, what’s the implementation, is the policy rightly adjusted to the needs of the country and we’re seeing very good things coming out of that zone of the world in particular, which are not necessarily recognized by the markets.”
11. Med shot, reporter asking question
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF:
“The program is difficult. It was negotiated with the Greek authorities. It requires efforts, sacrifices. I think it’s tailored to try to avoid that the less-privileged suffer less. And, we will continue to build and work on those programs with that approach. And then, the third thing which will be needed and which is the result of the first two is obviously the appropriate financing of the program so that the debt is sustainable.”
13. Zoom out, reporters to Lagarde ending briefing
The world economy is in a dangerous new phase, with risks on the rise, but while the problems are largely economic, the solutions are mainly political, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.
At her opening press conference ahead of the 2011 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, Lagarde outlined three main issues for the discussions - the weak global economic outlook, policies to safeguard the recovery, and the need for stronger leadership.
World growth had slowed, hitting jobs and throwing more into poverty, and risks had risen considerably, she said.
“The recovery that one was expecting has weakened and it’s clearly a risk that we see from an economic perspective, from a social perspective as well, because with less growth we see also less jobs,” she said.
The job of the IMF, with its 187-country membership, would be to help facilitate comprehensive solutions. With strong, synchronized leadership, the world economy could rebound over time. “We are in this together and we can pull out of it together,” she said.
Recognizing the “anxiety and trepidation” of markets, she said the world needed to revive the collective spirit of the Group of Twenty (G-20) meeting in London in 2009, when leaders acted together.
Repeating her earlier warning that the world economy had entered a dangerous new phase, Lagarde said that in advanced economies, the large debts of governments, households, and banks risked suffocating the recovery.
Some key emerging economies were also still not doing enough to boost domestic demand, for their own sake, and also to contribute to global demand.
According to the IMF’s latest global forecast, released on September 20, real GDP is expected to grow by a fairly robust 6.4 percent in emerging and developing economies but by only 1.6 percent in advanced economies in 2011.
About 10,000 policymakers, private sector and civil society representatives, journalists, and academics are expected to attend Meetings, which provide an opportunity for economic leaders to consider collective solutions to the major problems confronting the world.
Although policy options had narrowed, there was still a path forward. Lagarde summarized these options as the four “Rs”: repair, reform, rebalance, and rebuild.
While the policies needed were clear enough, the world needed strong leadership to get things done.
“The set of solutions and methods to address the situation are quite well known. What is needed, and what certainly we hope to be able to help generate on the occasion of the Annual Meetings, is the political leadership, and the degree of synchronization that needs to happen for the path to recovery to be made possible,” Lagarde told reporters.
“Collective leadership is definitely needed. It’s not going to be a matter for one or two countries to lead the show. As I said, each and every country is engaged in that process and is at risk in the current situation, but can also participate in the solution. So I think it is for that reason that an institution like the IMF actually makes sense.”
With much attention focused on difficulties in the euro zone, Lagarde said European countries were solidly behind Greece, but implementation of commitments would take time.
“There is obviously a gap between very solid, very strong governmental commitments at the highest level of those states, and the implementation time. That’s inherent to parliamentary life … we are no longer in Napoleonic times when a leader could just snap his fingers and make it happen. We are in democracies and it takes time.”
In the euro zone leaders’ July 21 agreement “there was financial commitment, there was a collective political determination to be in it together, there was open-ended financial support provided that countries were delivering under their commitments … and there was also a collective drive to reinforce governance and discipline among the group.”
It would be critical for both the Greek government and the euro area partners to implement their commitments. But she underlined the wider purpose of the European Union. “It’s not only about economics, it’s not only about finance. It’s also about a collective political destiny among countries that have spent centuries fighting each other and which are determined to stay together.”
Asked if Greece can weather the economic storm, Lagarde voiced optimism. If Euro zone countries first “stand by each other” and then follow through on implementation of agreements by both Greek authorities and European nations.
“The program is difficult, it was negotiated with the Greek authorities. It requires efforts, sacrifices. I think it’s tailored to try to avoid that the less-privileged suffer less. And, we will continue to build and work on those programs with that approach. And then, the third thing which will be needed and which is the result of the first two is obviously the appropriate financing of the program so that the debt is sustainable.”
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