IMF sees signs of stability

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said on 4 September in Berlin that the stimulus measures taken to combat the global crisis should be withdrawn only when the economic recovery has taken hold and unemployment begins to fall. While it recognized that the world economy seems to be coming out of the worst post-war period financial and economic crisis, Strauss-Kahn stressed that the recovery will be slow and that there is still the risk of recovery with unemployment. "I am concerned about the high social and economic costs of a high level of unemployment, which will persist even when the product and financial markets stabilize", he said.

Given the fragility of the recovery, Strauss-Kahn warned that "the economic authorities should act with particular caution in deciding when to withdraw the policies adopted in response to the crisis". He added, however, that Governments should develop plans to withdraw now in order to activate public support and act at the right time.