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In Europe 14th August 2014

The IMF crisis and how to solve it

ATHENS | By Gabriel Sterne via The Agora | The IMF is approaching its 70th birthday and the Greek programme has been a candidate for one of the most credibility-sapping in its history. Here I trace the IMF’s role in programme from its stormy launch; its misfiring implementation; the Fund’s half-hearted apology; and ongoing efforts to draw lessons and revise its sovereign debt restructuring framework, which appear destined to deliver insufficient meaningful change.  A transparency revolution is both necessary and feasible. It worked for central banks in the 1990s. Why not the Fund?
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World economy 13th August 2014

Georgia judges his ex-president and lifts the economy

MADRID | By Ángel Maestro | August arrived with the positive outcome that the IMF Executive Board will support the economic reform program in Georgia with 154 million Stand-By dollars. Among the economic measures, paradoxically, to reduce the dollarization in favour of the home currency and the euro, in order to accelerate its economic and political stabilization process. Concerning the second is the macro-judicial processes that will begin this Saturday against its former President Mikheil Saakashvili in relation to abuse of power charges which have driven numerous concerns by several worldwide institutions and non-governmental organizations.

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In Europe 29th July 2014

In Greece, UnLuCky for some: Another painful lesson from the euro crisis

ATHENS | By Yiannis Mouzakis via The Agora | No matter what overall opinion you have of the Greeks, you really ought to hand it to us for tolerance. Over the last year and a half one of the three key players in Greece’s crisis management team has repeatedly and openly admitted that the prescription for addressing the country’s predicament was wrong.

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World economy 25th July 2014

Risk: Geography trumps Economy

WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Geopolitics have returned with a vengeance in Europe right when Barack Obama’s economist view of international relations seemed to be on track with the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The IMF warns that geopolitical risk is back on stage.

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In Europe 24th July 2014

Is Germany’s growth losing momentum?

BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | After Q1’s strong growth, numbers show that the German economy has slowed down during 2Q’s first two months, as Bundesbank reported this week. Both the industrial sector and the construction have fallen compared with the 1Q.  However, it seems that Europe’s economic powerhouse will recover its strength in the coming months.

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Markets 17th July 2014

IMF warns about the “optimism of the financial markets”

MIAMI | By Pablo Pardo | The director of the IMF’s Department of Financial and Monetary Affairs, José Viñals, has declared himself “worried” about “the optimism of the financial markets.” Viñals made his remarks at the LSE Global Pensions Program, organized by the London School of Economics, Santander Asset Management and Novaster. To an audience of around one hundred pension fund managers and regulators, most of them from Latin America, the IMF official remarked that “everybody investing” in what he called “heterogeneous assets” has “made money” this year, in spite of the fact that the “economic news, ‘surprises’ have been relatively bad.” 

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World economy 10th July 2014

IMF doubles Spain’s growth forecast but warns on unemployment

MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | The Washington-based institution believes Spain has turned the corner and “the recovery reflects the collective efforts of Spanish society,” highlighting fiscal, banking and labour reforms. Forecasts (a 1.2% GDP hike this year and 1.6% in 2015) respond to the significant improvement of the country’s economy since the beginning of the year, surpassing government and experts’ estimates.

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World economy 7th July 2014

The Monty Python and BIS sadomonetarism

WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | The Monty Python are back in London, and one of their most famous sketches revolves around the phrase “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is like the Spanish Inquisition, only less funny and more predictable than the British surreal comedy group: it is the bearer of orthodoxy, even if it means sending everybody to the stake. Its prescriptions are suicidal in economic terms, wrong from a moral point of view, and unjust from a societal perspective. 

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World economy 17th June 2014

IMF’s warning to the FED

MADRID | By The Corner | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised downwards its growth forecasts for the US from 2.8% in April 2014 to 2%, and maintained 2015 outlook in 3%. Furthermore, the institution believes that the country will not achieve full employment before 2017.