DAR ES SALAAM: The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract “below zero” in 2009, the head of the IMF said on Tuesday.
“Continued deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the world,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African leaders in the Tanzanian capital.
G20 finance ministers will meet in London this weekend to lay the footing for a summit of G20 leaders in early April. European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday, with the plight of Eastern European countries and the need to beef up the IMF’s lending power high on the agenda.
A draft paper shows that EU finance ministers would back a call from the IMF to double its funds to $500 billion.
In the 1980s, when Brazil went broke and was bailed out by the IMF, based fund for the recession that ensued. Black Economic Empowerment