WASHINGTON - The head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday the global economy is finally turning the corner after a deep recession, but the recovery remains too weak.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called on governments to aggressively pursue programs to bolster economic growth to help the millions of people who are unemployed.
“Bold actions are needed to generate stronger growth,” Lagarde told reporters as finance officials began three days of talks in Washington at the spring meetings of the 188-nation IMF and its sister-lending agency, the World Bank.
The discussions on how to increase growth and fight poverty likely were to be overshadowed by tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Finance officials from the world’s seven major economies met Thursday to discuss whether to increase sanctions against Moscow.
The G-7 countries are the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Finance ministers and central bank officials from those nations are in Washington for the IMF meetings and also discussions among the Group of 20 nations, a group that includes the G-7 nations and a broader group of emerging countries including Russia, China, Brazil and India.
In advance of the G-7 discussions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew was scheduled to meet Thursday with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
The United States and European nations have imposed various economic sanctions on Russia, such as travel bans and asset freezes, in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to demand advance payment from Ukraine for natural gas that Russia supplies to the country.
Asked Thursday about the IMF support, Lagarde said the IMF hoped to have the program approved by its 24-member board by the end of this month or early May.
Lagarde urged the U.S. to take responsibility and adopt an overhaul of the fund’s ownership structure that’s been stalled in Congress.
The U.S. is delaying implementation of a 2010 agreement by all IMF member countries that would adjust some nations’ shares, or quotas, in the fund and double its lending capacity to about $739 billion. The plan would give emerging markets such as China more clout at the institution, which was set up at the end of World War II to safeguard the stability of the global monetary system.
The U.S. is the largest shareholder of the fund, with a voting share of 16.8 percent. Major decisions require 85 percent approval, effectively giving the U.S. veto power.
Lagarde added to a chorus of countries from Mexico to the U.K. showing impatience with the U.S. Twice this year, lawmakers rejected a push by the Obama administration to include the IMF provision in unrelated legislation.
Information for this article was contributed by Martin Crutsinger of The Associated Press and Sandrine Rastello of Bloomberg News.
Business, Pages 28 on 04/11/2014