IMF / BRIEFING

An International Monetary Fund spokesman said Thursday that the impact of theU.S.sequestration could lead it to revise down its forecast for the U.S. Italy andGreece’s outlooks were also discussed. IMF

 

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:33
• Production Date: 28 February 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND - IMF
• Subject Topical: ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
• Geographic Subject: UNITED STATES; GREECE
• MAMS Id: U130228g

Description

STORY: IMF / BRIEFING
TRT: 1.33
SOURCE: IMF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 FEBRUARY, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC / RECENT

RECENT, WASHINGTON DC

1. Wide shot, exterior IMF Headquarters

28 FEBRUARY, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC / RECENT

1. SOUNDBITE (English) William Murray, Deputy Spokesman, IMF:
“Fiscal policy should be made more growth friendly by shifting the composition of adjustment toward lower expenditures based on a thorough review of spending. The adjustment should include taxes. You need to accelerate the implementation of a comprehensive labor and product market reform agenda to boost productivity and labor participation. This is especially important in the context of youth and women in Italy.”
2. Cutaway, reporters
3. SOUNDBITE (English) William Murray, Deputy Spokesman, IMF:
“Greece has done a very good job so far on fiscal consolidation. If there is more progress with structural reforms and especially if Greece can do a better job of collecting taxes then the government should be able to avoid further wage and pension cuts. This is an important point.”
4. Cutaway, reporters
5. SOUNDBITE (English) William Murray, Deputy Spokesman, IMF:
“A lot of it depends upon how aggressively or how fully sequestration is implemented. There will be an impact on global growth. The countries most affected will be those that have active trade relations with the United States.”

RECENT, WASHINGTON DC

1. Wide shot, exterior IMF Headquarters

Storyline

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today (28 February) that it will likely lower its outlook for the United States if $85 billion in spending cuts, known as the sequester, are allowed to take effect on Friday.

The Eurozone remains the other risk facing the global economy.

Asked about the IMF’s recommendations for a new Italian government, IMF Deputy Spokesman William Murray said that the IMF’s continues to recommend that the gains of the past year be maintained.

“Fiscal policy should be made more growth friendly by shifting the composition of adjustment toward lower expenditures based on a thorough review of spending. The adjustment should include taxes. You need to accelerate the implementation of a comprehensive labor and product market reform agenda to boost productivity and labor participation. This is especially important in the context of youth and women in Italy,” Murray said.

Murray said that an IMF staff team is currently in Athens holding discussions with the government, jointly with the European Commission and the European Central Bank. Greece has a 28 billion euro program with the three bodies, known as the troika.

“Greece has done a very good job so far on fiscal consolidation. If there is more progress with structural reforms and especially if Greece can do a better job of collecting taxes then the government should be able to avoid further wage and pension cuts. This is an important point,” Murray said.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Murray said that if the sequester remained in place throughout the rest of the year, U.S. growth would decline by half a percent. The current IMF forecast for the U.S. is a 2% expansion this year.

“A lot of it depends upon how aggressively or how fully sequestration is implemented. There will be an impact on global growth. The countries most affected will be those that have active trade relations with the United States,” Murray said.