1. B-ROLL: Exterior IMF

Washington, DC --- 5 October 2018
2. Midshot
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maury Obstfeld, IMF Research Department Director:
“We are now projecting growth at 3.7% for this year and for next year. Now that is .2 percentage points down from what we thought in our last projections, though it is still the same level we saw in 2017 – fairly solid but growth has plateaued. It’s also become less even, and there are also greater risks of negative developments on growth. We are finally seeing the trade tensions kick in with the latest US actions on China and retaliation which have led us to downgrade our growth projections for China next year, and also for the US.”
4. Midshot
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maury Obstfeld, IMF Research Department Director:
“Risks on the horizon make it even more important to undertake policy reforms, that strengthen growth and make it more resilient, that rebuild fiscal buffers and that strengthen regulatory frameworks because the next recession will come someday. It may be sooner than we think. We also need to pay attention to longer run problems such as the stagnation of wages and how labor markets will respond to new technologies based on artificial intelligence. Finally, the multilateral system of cooperation that has given us seventy years of prosperity is under threat and needs reform. We need to strengthen it.”

Washington, DC – Recent
6. B-ROLL: Exterior IMF