International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde says that growth is too moderate and that future growth has been affected by the “scars of the financial crisis”. She spoke of the risk of the “new mediocre to become reality.”
Regarding Greece’s aging population, Lagarde said that this is “something we can’t do much about.” She said that policy makers should do more to get more people, such as women, into the job market.
On Greece, she said that Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had told her that the payment to the IMF would have been forthcoming during his visit to Washington. On the social turmoil in Greece and crushing austerity measures, Lagarde said that “for the Greek economy most of the important fiscal measures have been taken” and said that a surplus would come. She said that in-depth structural reforms have not been implemented to unclog the economy. As an example she pointed to baby milk only being sold in pharmacies, transportation is highly-regulated and the pension system weighs heavily on the Greek economy. She said that there need to be reforms in the pension system.
