IMF chief urges Chinese role in global policy talks

BEIJING, Mar 19 – Visiting chief of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde said on Sunday that China should maintain a prominent role in global policy discussions amid lingering weaknesses in the global outlook.

Lagarde said China’s successes have for many years captured the world’s attention as China has posted spectacular growth and in the space of three decades, created 370 million jobs and lifted half a billion people out of poverty.

When the global crisis hit, China again showed leadership and adept policy skills, she said at the China Development Forum held Sunday in Beijing by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the think tank of the Chinese Government.

“Indeed, the global economic situation might have been even more calamitous had it not been for the impetus that China provided to growth and stability,” she said.

Meanwhile, she said China should also sustain its efforts to accelerate the transformation of the Chinese economy. She listed three priorities for China, namely, supporting growth, continuing shifting the drivers of economic growth away from investment and exports and toward domestic consumption, and improving household livelihoods.

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