The IMF’s updated forecasts to be released next month do not foresee a global recession but risks have risen, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Friday. “I can say that our base case is certainly not a recession,” IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky told CNBC television. “There’s no doubt however that risks have risen given the weak performance in many economic data in the last few months,” he added. Lipsky said rising risks to the global economy reflected a lack of confidence in policymakers’ ability to rein in debts. He urged both the United States and Europe to develop credible medium-term fiscal plans to boost confidence in their ability to cut their debt levels. “It is clear what is needed is credible medium-term fiscal plans that will give confidence to investors and others that the deficit will be controlled and fiscal policy will be appropriate in the medium term,” Lipsky said, speaking from the US Federal Reserve’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
