The Monetary Fund, slower growth but more solid banks – Corriere.it

Weaker growth but stronger banks. According to director general of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva“global growth will remain around 3% over the next five years: it is our lowest medium-term forecast since 1990 and well below the 3.8% average of the last two decades”.

However, the banking sector “has come a long way since the global financial crisis of 2008 – Georgieva added – Today the institutions are generally stronger and more resilient, and policy makers have been extraordinarily quick and thorough in their actions in recent weeks. Said this concerns remain about vulnerabilities that may be hidden. This is not the time for complacency.” Also because the recent banking crises “have highlighted deficiencies in the risk management of certain banks and gaps in supervision”.

Georgieva — in the speech in view of the Spring Meetings, the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank next week — underlined that «there can be no robust growth without price stability or without financial stability. The fight against inflation has become more complex» but the guard should not be lowered «because the race in prices has proved to be more persistent than expected». Then the top of the IMF launched an attack on protectionist policies. An example? “US tariffs on Chinese products have cut world GDP by 0.4%”.

Another alarm comes from the front of “poverty and hunger”, which «could increase further, a dangerous trend that has been triggered by the Covid crisis. For low-income countries, per capita GDP growth will remain lower than that of emerging economies. But it has arrived at the IMF the attack of Tunisia. The president of the African country, Kais Saied, has rejected the requests of the international institution that condition the granting of a loan on economic reforms and the revocation of some state subsidies. “Diktats from abroad are unacceptable,” he said.