Former International Monetary Fund boss and one-time presidential hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, made his first step back into public life with a speech in China on Monday.

 

"/> Former International Monetary Fund boss and one-time presidential hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, made his first step back into public life with a speech in China on Monday.

 

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Strauss-Kahn returns to public life

Former International Monetary Fund boss and one-time presidential hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, made his first step back into public life with a speech in China on Monday.

 

Published: 19 December 2011 08:04 CET
Strauss-Kahn returns to public life
WTO

Strauss-Kahn was forced to abandon his presidential ambitions after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel worker in May. The charges were later dropped by prosecutors.

Speaking at an event in Beijing, Strauss-Kahn made no mention of the allegations made against him earlier this year, preferring to focus on the economic malaise in Europe.

He called for closer integration of European Union countries and a unified budget at the event organized by internet company NetEase..

“We need to have the European Union being a real union,” he said. “That is the only way to solve the crisis.”

French daily Le Figaro said Strauss-Kahn hoped to use the forum to “return to public life on the other side of the world.”

He was joined on stage by Chinese economist Li Daokui who praised his “huge contributions” to the global economy during his spell at the IMF.

“In China a lot of people still support you and really love you,” said Li. “Beijing is probably the most welcoming place for you.”

After the speech, Strauss-Kahn answered questions posed by internet users but refused to discuss any aspects of his private life.

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ECONOMY

Italy’s economic policies will hit the poor hardest: IMF

Economic policies implemented by the populist government in Rome leave Italy's economy vulnerable to recession, with the poorest likely to suffer the most, the IMF warned.

Published: 7 February 2019 09:45 CET
Italy's economic policies will hit the poor hardest: IMF
Italy's economic policies could lead to recession, the IMF said. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

“The authorities' policies could leave Italy vulnerable to a renewed loss of market confidence,” an International Monetary Fund annual report on the country said yesterday.

“Italy could then be forced into a notable fiscal contraction, pushing a weakening economy into a recession. The burden would fall disproportionately on the vulnerable,” the IMF added.

The Italian economy, the eurozone's third largest, fell into a technical recession at the end of 2018.

The fund expects the Italian economy to grow by no more than 0.6 percent this year, well below the government's own estimate of 1.0 percent.

The European Commission is tipped to lower its Italian growth forecast on Thursday, and slower growth could spell trouble for Italy, where around 20 percent of national output is swallowed up each year by payments on the public debt, the second biggest in the eurozone.

Photo: Depositphotos

The IMF report praised the coalition government's “objective to improve economic and social outcomes (as) welcome.”

But it added that the only sustainable way of achieving such goals was through “faster potential growth” that would require structural reforms, “a credible fiscal consolidation” and stronger bank balance sheets.

The coalition government of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the far-right League party was forced to water down its ambitious and costly budget in December to avoid being punished by the EU Commission and financial markets.

The IMF report emphasised Wednesday that Italy “needs to tackle long-standing structural impediments to productivity growth. 

“This includes decentralising the wage bargaining regime, liberalising service markets, and improving the business climate.”

Deputy Prime Minister and M5S leader Luigi Di Maio quickly rejected the IMF report, charging that the Fund “has starved people for decades.”

The IMF, Di Maio claimed, “has no credibility to criticise a measure like the citizenship income programme,” the party's plan to introduce a welfare payment of 780 euros a month for Itay's least well-off.

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