WORLD
IMF boss: return to the Great Depression
Baku, December 16 (AZERTAC). The world is heading for a new Great Depression, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday.
In an apocalyptic assessment of the debt crisis, Christine Lagarde said the disaster in the eurozone was escalating - despite last week’s treaty designed to prop up the currency. Delivering a clear warning that Europe has still not done enough to prevent the collapse of the euro, she insisted every country in the world would need to help boost growth. Mrs Lagarde warned that failure to solve the crisis would lead to ‘protectionism, isolation, and other elements reminiscent of the 1930s Depression’.
She added: ‘This is exactly the description of what happened in the 30s and what followed is not something we are looking forward to.’ Significantly her attack on ‘isolation’ appeared to be an assault on David Cameron’s refusal to sign an EU treaty last week designed to save the euro. But her criticism was undermined last night when it emerged that Britain will have a seat at the table when details of the eurozone treaty are thrashed out. The revelation also undermines Labour’s criticism of Mr Cameron’s veto that it would leave Britain without a voice at Europe’s top table.
In a speech at the U.S. State Department in Washington, Mrs Lagarde said: ‘The world economic outlook at the moment is not particularly rosy. It is quite gloomy. 'There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating.
‘It is not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action. It is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries.’