IMF chief urges G20 countries to continue reforms process

International Monetary Fund, or IMF, Managing Director Christine Lagarde urged G20 countries Friday to continue the structural reforms process in order to restore confidence in shortterm recovery.

Growth is slowing down throughout the world, making it important to continue discussing reforms, said Lagarde, during her opening address at a seminar within the framework of the summit of G20 finance ministers, which began in Shanghai Friday.

The IMF chief said growth in the world’s developed countries continued being modest and “in danger” in some emerging countries.

All this affects financial markets and depresses sentiment about the state of the economy, making it important to boost confidence in shortterm recovery, she added.

At another forum organized by the IMF on the sidelines of the summit, Lagarde urged G20 countries to act on the monetary and fiscal front and structural reforms.

Lagarde’s remarks come barely two days after the IMF released a report, ahead of the summit, which said “developments point to higher risks of a derailed recovery, at a moment when the global economy is highly vulnerable to adverse shocks.”

“The global economy needs bold multilateral actions to boost growth and contain risk,” in the face of the slowing down of many emerging countries and the weak recovery of developed ones, it added.

The IMF has revised its growth forecast for the global economy to 3.4 percent for 2016 and 3.6 percent for 2017, according to the latest World Economic Outlook.