Press Release - Transcript of IMF Press Briefing
MR. RICE: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this briefing on behalf of the International Monetary Fund. I am Gerry Rice of the Communications Department.
And as usual this morning, we are on the record, and this briefing is embargoed until 10:30 a.m.; that’s Washington time. Let me run through a couple of announcements, and then I'll turn to your questions in the room.
The Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, will be in Los Angeles next Monday, November 14, to receive the Woman of the Year Award from Glamour magazine. She will also be given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and at that event Madame Lagarde will be making a speech on Women's Economic Empowerment. That’s next Monday.
A few days later, Madame Lagarde will be making the opening remarks at the IMF's statistical forum, to be held here in Washington, and you'll be welcome to attend. Let me also mention that Maury Obstfeld, our chief economist; and Deputy Managing Director Tao Zhang will be also at the same forum chairing some of the events related to that.
Then November 18 to 20, Madame Lagarde will be in Peru to participate in the APEC Leaders' Meeting, and as part of her visit there, as well as the official meetings of APEC, she will speak at the Universidad del Pacifico, and we'll be sharing that speech with you, and other details closer to the time.
David Lipton, our First Deputy Managing Director, will be in Beijing, China, on November 21st, 22nd, for a seminar hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and part of the Seminar Series, “The Shifting Global Economic and Political Landscape.”
And then on November 16, Deputy Managing Director Tao Zhang will be in New York for the China Life U.S. Representative Office, Opening Ceremony of the Overseas Business Dialogue, November 16, New York.
Finally, on November 17 and 18, Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa will be in Guatemala to participate in the 14th Central America Regional Conference. And then about a week later, November 26, 27, Mr. Furusawa will travel to Myanmar to attend the 52nd Annual Southeast Asian Central Bank's Conference.
So, as usual, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter, IMF.org. And with that, let me turn to your questions. Good morning.
QUESTIONER: I had a question about the election of -- actually I have two questions. So, do you feel that that opens a period of uncertainty for the U.S. economy and the global economy? And do you see the election as a rebuke of the policies that the IMF has been advocating for many years? And so do you think it should push the IMF to rethink its action and its policies? Thank you.
MR. RICE: I'm guessing that there might be a few questions on the U.S. election, its implications. Maybe I'll take a few and come back. So, yeah?
QUESTIONER: Just a follow up on his question. If you are concerned that the new U.S. government will try to make it harder for you to engage financially with certain countries, like Greece, let's say?
MR. RICE: Sir?
QUESTIONER: -- it's a sort of too general type question, but you could give a “guesstimate” of whether it's net positive, net negative for the economic process at this point?
MR. RICE: Yes?
QUESTIONER: Yeah. I'm with Reuters. Do you have concerns about the level of the U.S. commitment to the international institutions going forward given Mr. Trump's America-first policies, and a general sort of rejection of decades of trade liberalization policy?
MR. RICE: Sir?
QUESTIONER: I’m with Bloomberg. The other thing I have to add is to the economic implications. Do you have anything on the financial implications? There was some volatility yesterday, but ultimately there was actually a rally in stocks and other risk assets. So I'm wondering what the financial implications are as you see it.
MR. RICE: Okay. Let me -- let me try and take these, and then we can move on to other things. We issued a statement yesterday. Let me repeat that for you. The IMF looks forward to working with the next U.S. administration, to help the challenges facing the U.S. economy and the global economy.
You know, beyond that, clearly in terms of, you know, specific questions about policy directions, and it's really just -- it's too early to speculate. We need to see how the new U.S. administration defines its policy priorities and related actions once it takes office before we would make any assessment of specific issues.
That said, let me try and respond to a couple of the issues that you’ve raised. On the financials and the markets, there was some volatility yesterday, but markets this morning seem relatively calm from what we can see there. I think there was a question about, does this signify a repudiation of IMF policies or, you know, does it entail a rethink on how we are approaching things. Again, I think it's too early to speculate on any specific policies, but we have been saying now for quite some time, including at the most recent Annual Meetings, that there needs to be, of course, a focus on increased growth. But we've also been emphasizing equally the need for inclusive growth.
There was this phrase at the Annual Meetings that growth has been too low for too long for too few. So, we've been doing, I think as you know, those who watch us, we've been doing a lot of work, in fact, over the last number of years on issues such as inequality, for example, and how to make growth more inclusive. So, that’s something to which we are committed and in that respect, if you will, a rethink has already been well underway, as I say, for several years.
In fact, the annual economics conferences that we've been running have often been titled Rethinking Macroeconomic. So we are committed to helping our membership promote more inclusive growth. You know, I think the same applies on the whole issue of globalization, and some of the policies related to that, you know, openness, trade and so on.
Again this was a big discussion point during the Annual Meetings again recently, that for many countries around the world and for many people, especially poor people around the world, those policies have delivered many benefits. A lot of people have been lifted out of poverty over the last generation. But we have added and emphasized that clearly the negative side effects of some of these globalization policies need to be taken into account more. And again, that’s something we've been emphasizing now for some time. So, it's not just the -- it's making globalization work better and work for everyone. Again, that was a big discussion point during the Annual Meetings.
On the other questions, some of your other questions, do we anticipate difficulties to emerge with other countries? Again, no, at this point no, I do not see that. But again, I think we have to wait and let the new administration take office and see what the specific policies might be. There was a question about the U.S. level of commitment to the IMF and, you know, there are just a -- the U.S. was a founding member of the IMF. The U.S. is the leading shareholder in the IMF. We have an excellent relationship with the U.S. authorities, and we would expect that to continue into the future.
On certainty and uncertainty, again, I think it's the early days -- too early to speculate. Clearly, as a general principle, certainty is a good thing. Policy certainty is a good thing. But again, we need to wait and see. Remember we are barely 24 hours away from the election decision.
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