Christine Lagarde quotes Abai to describe importance of global economy growth
"As Socrates would have said: ‘Accelerate slowly.' But, as famous Kazakh poet Abai could have said: ‘While walking slowly, stride confidently.' So, today I would like to borrow on this idea: accelerate but slowly. Unfortunately, when I look at the global growth around the world, there is more slow motion than acceleration," said Christine Lagarde.
According to the IMF Managing Director, 70 percent of the global economy is expected to experience a slowdown in 2019.
"And Yelbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev, you have actually quoted our forecast for growth...While there was about 75 percent of the world accelerating growth pace last year 2018, unfortunately, in 2019, we see about 70% of global GDP slowing down that growth momentum," she clarified.
"So, I am not suggesting that there is a recession in the wings, but it is certainly slowing down as compared with last year - from 3.6% last year, we forecast 3.3% global growth to hopefully go back to 3.6% next year, which, however, is predicated on no additional financial tightening and, hopefully, an alleviation of what we regard as major risks to growth at the moment, which are the international tensions that we see in abundance between major players in the world."
"We need to increase growth to a higher plane, but we need to stride carefully yet confidently on that path. And, to that end, we believe that good domestic policies are needed, that increased economic diversification is required, and that international cooperation is at play," Christine Lagarde added.