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IMF chief cautious on economic recovery

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-30 00:52

PARIS: It is good news that financial markets are doing better but 2009 will still be a bad year for the world economy, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Wednesday.

In an interview with France 24 television, he also said the US dollar was likely to remain the world's reserve currency and called the return to generous bonuses for workers in US banks scandalous.

"It's good that financial markets are doing better. It's good that companies are starting to have better results. But 2009 will be a bad year," he said.

"We are only halfway through. The rest of the year will not be good. And the pick-up that we see really only exists as of 2010. So we mustn't get wrapped up in it."

Related readings:  IMF welcomes China's substantial fiscal support to economy  IMF raises Asia growth forecast  IMF reform 'key to tackling downturn'  IMF sees 2010 growth; G8 frets over risks  IMF board meets to authorize $150b in bonds

Even when the economy has recovered, unemployment will remain high and rise for some time, he said.  Asked whether the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset, could replace the US dollar as the world's main reserve currency, he said: "We are far, very far from having a situation in which the supremacy of the dollar would be contested."

"The reality...is that that the United States is the most powerful economy and so while we can still think about a different system I do not think that the IMF's SDRs would be in a position to replace the immense mass of dollars circulating in the world which are used for international payments," he added.

Asked whether he was concerned about large bonuses which encouraged the kind of risk-taking that helped lead to the financial crisis, he said: "Frankly, I'm scandalised by what I'm seeing."

Recent bumper profits for banks including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have raised concerns among politicians that banks have not sufficiently changed their business practices in the wake of the financial crisis.