On Jan. 25, 2013, Money News has reported on a Bloomberg news story, IMF’s Lagarde: US Risks Losing Its Global Economic Leadership. Christine Lagarde, who is the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has said U.S. policy makers should create a long-term plan for handling the deficit or they will be faced with the risk of losing the nation’s position as the world’s economic leader. Lagarde has been quoted as saying in an interview with CNBC in Davos, Switzerland that Washington officials have to “consider that the leading role played by the U.S. economy in the world is at stake.”
This week the U.S. House voted to suspend the nation’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit until May 19. Legarde has commented that Congress should take advantage of the next three months to settle the debt ceiling issues rather than “kick the can down the road a little bit longer, a little bit farther.” She has gone on to say faith in the U.S. economy could be undermined if uncertainty persists. Lagarde has also commented, “Too much uncertainty or uncertainty for too long will erode confidence.”
Jeanna Smialek has also reported on this story for Bloomberg Businessweek, IMF’s Lagarde Says U.S. Leading Economic Role at Stake. The IMF has said that in the U.S., “underlying economic conditions remain on track.” The fund also cut its forecast for the U.S. economy to 2 percent from 2.1 percent in 2013 and raised it 0.1 percentage point to 3 percent for next year.
Legarde has also said in regard to the U.S. economy, “Confidence is something that is really fragile, can be eroded gradually, or broken down.”
