Europe urged to do more at IMF meeting

The annual spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has sent a single, strong message to Europe to do more, The New York Times reported yesterday.

There were signs of more agreement between European leaders and high-ranking ministers and officials talking over the need to slow the pace of budget cutting and bolster growth in Europe, the report said.

At the outset of the gathering of finance ministers and central bankers last week, the IMF lowered its global growth forecasts yet again citing weakness in Europe. Also Christine Lagarde, managing director of the fund, categorised nations as strong, trying and laggards.

She put the developing and emerging economies that were the engine of global growth in the first category, with the second comprising countries that were gaining momentum in their recoveries, like the US.

The third category, she said, contained countries that continued to struggle with their policy response to the crisis - not growing, and hindering global growth. The group included many countries in high-income Europe, including the UK, Germany and Italy.

At a news conference during the meetings, Lagarde said such countries needed to try ''anything that works'' to create jobs. She went on to add that ''with growth and a good policy mix, which relies on not just one policy but a set of policies that will include fiscal consolidation at the right pace,'' she said. She also cited structural changes and loose monetary policy as necessary.

Increasing growth and job creation emerged as the major topics of discussion at the International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington.

The summit saw the US blaming Europe for the slowing of the global economy while other countries warned the US over its fiscal cliff situation.

The unemployment rate was down in most US states in March, though job creation remained particularly relevant for Europe.

According to the latest figures, youth unemployment across the 27 EU countries stood at an average rate of 23.5 per cent.

Lagarde said every policymaker was keen to develop jobs and to respond to the demands of the young population in particular.

The EU's main economic power, Germay has come under pressure to boost spending in order to encourage growth throughout the region – a move that Berlin continues to resist.

UK chancellor George Osborne was urged by Lagarde recently to rethink the austerity strategy of the UK, due to the country's poor economic performance.

According to global financial officials at the meetings, monetary policy alone was not enough to restore confidence in the shaky global economy.

According to Stefan Grobe, Euronews correspondent, the main message of this year's Spring Meetings was there was not one silver bullet or one global solution to tackle the challenges. He added, what was needed most was confidence and predictability, adding the markets needed to know that policymakers were on the right track.