Washington, DC – Recent
B-ROLL: Exterior IMF

Washington, DC -- 18 April 2017
SOUNDBITE: (English) Maury Obstfeld, IMF Research Department Director:
“Things are really looking up at the moment. We have seen a string of good economic news since the middle of 2016 and we definitely see some momentum. We expected growth to rise in 2016 but we are raising our outlook even beyond where we were a few months ago to 3.5 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year.”

Alternate Angle
SOUNDBITE: (English), Maury Obstfeld, IMF Research Department Director:
“In advanced economies and commodity exporters the medium-term outlook remains subdued because potential growth remains low. In addition there are some risks out there. An obvious one is protectionism and retaliatory responses to that. But there are other risks, very strong appreciation of the dollar could lead to financial tightening, which would have adverse effects on emerging markets.”
5. Alternate Angle
SOUNDBITE: (English), Maury Obstfeld, IMF Research Department Director:
“Policy makers really need to raise their game in several respects. The open world trading system has promoted growth over decades, especially in emerging markets but the gains have been distributed too unequally as have the costs to adjustment to changing technology and changing trade. They need to think about policies that will equip workforces for structural transformation, help them to adjust to all sorts of dislocations and to remain productive.”

Washington, DC – Recent
B-ROLL: Exterior IMF