Global Biz

IMF urges cooperation to prevent currency war

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-03 08:13

KIEV - The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on Saturday urged major economies to do more to prevent a global currency war.

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Speaking at an economic conference in the Crimean Black Sea resort of Yalta, Strauss-Kahn said that a global economic recovery was underway, even if it was a very uneven recovery.

"We succeeded in avoiding a bigger crisis thanks to economic coordination especially in monetary policy and in fiscal stimulus, " the Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Strauss-Kahn as saying.

"But today we have another threat which is that this willingness for consensus and cooperation has decreased. And we see around the world a possibility of the beginning of a currency war," said the IMF chief.

He noted that economic policymakers needed to get back to talking about cooperation, "discussing the value of the currencies, trying to adjust what has to be adjusted, fighting against global imbalances."

Strauss-Kahn said that if they didn't, there would be a new crisis "of countries trying to find domestic solutions to a global problem."