By iMFdirect

The IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings are upon us here in Washington DC.

With global challenges that require global solutions—the theme of the meetings—IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn reminds us that this is “not the time for complacency.”

Government ministers and officials, members of civil society organizations, journalists, and others are flocking to Washington DC this week to discuss and decide on key issues facing the global economy.

We’ve kicked off the week, releasing our latest assessments of the world economic outlook and global financial stability, as well as an updated look at the outlook for government debts and deficits.

Setting the scene for the meetings, the Managing Director laid out the priority issues in two recent speeches.

Speaking to students at George Washington University last week, he pointed to the task before us….

…to rebuild the foundations of stability, to make them stand the test of time, and to make the next phase of globalization work for all. This rebuilding has three core areas—a new approach to economic policies, a new approach to social cohesion, and a new approach to cooperation and multilateralism.

And, he spoke yesterday about the global jobs crisis, and the need to sustain recovery through employment and equitable growth…

…what we have learnt over time is that unemployment and inequality can undermine the very achievements of the market economy, by sowing the seeds of instability.

In a recent interview, Reza Moghadam—head of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department—talked about how recent global events will feed into the meetings. Watch this video to hear more about what he has to say on global imbalances, capital controls, and reform of the international monetary system, and whether we should we expect any big decisions coming out of the meetings.

http://blog-