WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – Europe came under pressure
on Saturday from other world powers to do more to fix its
debt-heavy economy, which still threatens to undermine a fragile
global recovery.
A day after top economies agreed more money for the
International Monetary Fund to help contain Europe’s debt
crisis, the fund’s governing panel said the euro zone now needed
to get its debt under control, ensure the stability of its
banking system and carry out “bold structural reforms.”
The panel in its statement also said advanced economies
generally needed to tighten their budgets, though not
excessively.
The head of the panel, Singapore Finance Minister Tharman
Shanmugaratnam, said it was critical to get back to “normal”
economic growth in two to three years in as much of the advanced
world as possible, otherwise fiscal sustainability would not be
possible.
Discussions on Saturday, he told a news conference, were
“about the real theater of policy action, which is about fiscal
reforms and structural reforms, not just in Europe although that
is obviously an important focus of our attentions, but also in
the United States as well as more generally amongst all players
in the international economy.”
Throughout three days of meetings in Washington, top global
finance officials tried to keep up the pressure on Europe to
follow through on tough economic reforms that are considered the
key to getting to the root of the region’s debt problems.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also urged the
European Central Bank to play a central role.
“The success of the next phase of the crisis response will
hinge on Europe’s willingness and ability, together with the
European Central Bank to apply its tools … flexibly and
aggressively to support countries as they implement reforms,”
Geithner told the IMF’s steering committee.
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
