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STORY: IMF / STRAUSS-KAHN
TRT: 2:13
SOURCE: IMF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGAUGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2011, WASHINGTON DC / RECENT
RECENT - WASHINGTON DC
1. Wide shot, exterior IMF headquarters
14 APRIL 2011, WASHINGTON DC
2. Wide shot, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn arriving at press conference
3. Cutaway, audience
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund:
“You may remember one year ago, exactly one year ago, was it in this room or the other room, my concern was we may have recovery without job. And it will probably be too much to say it is a jobless recovery, but it’s certainly a recovery with not enough jobs. So the question now is, job, job, jobs.”
5. Cutaway, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund:
“The challenge is clear. It’s to preserve social cohesion, without undermining the macroeconomic stability. And, that’s really something for which we stand ready to help, especially in the Middle East, where this question is probably more urgent than in other countries.”
7. Cutaway, audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund:
“So, we have much to do. We have much to do and that’s why I started telling that the biggest risk would be complacency. I can assure you there’s no complacency within the IMF. And, by the same token there must be no complacency from the international community and we will take care during the Spring meeting that it will not be the case.”
9. Cutaway, audience
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund:
“I understand how painful it is for the Greek people. But I think Greece will make it. To do this, we’ll build a program. Of course, this program will have to be implemented. And so, Greece will make it, provided two things: first, that all that is in the program is really implemented in due time. I understand how difficult it is, no discussion about that, but that’s not the point. It has to be done.”
11. Cutaway, audience
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund:
“The reality is very simple. From the point of view of the institution, yesterday, capital controls were not in the toolbox. Today, capital controls are in the toolbox.”
13. Med shot, briefing ends and reporters walk up to officials
In a press conference ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - World Bank Spring Meetings, IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn argued that the world economy is recovering, but in an unbalanced way. He said such imbalances are among the main challenges facing economies around the world.
The IMF’s World Economic Outlook, released this week, said unemployment remained a major problem while rising food and commodity prices posed a threat to poor households, adding to social and economic tensions notably in the Middle East and North Africa.
Advanced economies face fiscal and financial challenges. But, Strauss-Kahn emphasized unemployment as a chief concern.
“You may remember one year ago, exactly one year ago, was it in this room or the other room, my concern was we may have recovery without job. And it will probably be too much to say it is a jobless recovery, but it’s certainly a recovery with not enough jobs. So the question now is, job, job, jobs,” he said.
The IMF managing director pointed to social upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa as evidence of the need to ensure all people see economic gains.
“The challenge is clear. It’s to preserve social cohesion, without undermining the macroeconomic stability. And, that’s really something for which we stand ready to help, especially in the Middle East, where this question is probably more urgent than in other countries,” he said.
The IMF is emphasizing the need for cooperation to address continuing economic challenges. Strauss-Kahn pointed to past cooperation to avert a “depression that could have been as deep as the great depression.”
“The slogan of the spring meeting is global challenges, global solution. Some may argue that there are also local challenges that require global solutions. I agree, but what’s certainly wrong would be to have global challenges with local solutions,” he added.
Strauss-Kahn also discussed the issue of controls for capital flows. Many emerging economies are seeking to manage large inflows of capital, which can drive up the local currency and make exports less competitive.
Strauss-Kahn said that for decades the IMF considered capital controls “evil,” but that thinking has changed.
“The reality is very simple. From the point of view of the institution, yesterday, capital controls were not in the toolbox. Today, capital controls are in the toolbox,” he said.
