Next Phase of the Crisis

• Author: Jeremy Clift
• Position: Editor-in-Chief
• Pages: 1

Page 1

The financial crisis is threatening a deep and prolonged global recession. In response, monetary and financial authorities are taking unprecedented steps to restore confidence and the flow of credit, as well as attempting to contain the severity of the economic contraction through emergency measures and fiscal stimulus. At the same time, regulators and policymakers are focusing on the urgent need for regulatory and supervisory reforms-an important item on the agenda of this November’s G-20 meeting in Washington, which will continue to be addressed through 2009.

In this issue of F&D, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard looks at how the world got into this mess and what to do about it, from both an immediate and a medium-term perspective. he makes a compelling case for countries (that can afford it) to use well-targeted fiscal expansion in the short run to stimulate growth and a more flexible fiscal policy stance in the longer run.

In our June issue, we examined the...