2017 Annual Meetings Plenary Speech
by Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director
Chairman Fakhoury, President Kim, Governors, honored guests: on behalf of the IMF, I would like to warmly welcome you to the 2017 Annual Meetings!", "publishDate": "2017-10-13", "sections": [ { "heading": "Global outlook and opening assessment", "content": "- Global growth is expected to be stronger this year—3.6 percent.\n- Positive momentum is expected to continue into 2018.\n- The upswing is broad-based: involving 75 percent of the global economy, as measured by GDP.\n- The recovery presents an opportunity to secure and expand growth to those not yet benefiting and to include those at risk of exclusion.\n- More than 40 emerging and developing countries—representing about 15 percent of the world’s population—are currently experiencing declining per-capita income.\n- Key risks and constraints include geopolitical tensions, political uncertainty, and recent devastating natural disasters." }, { "heading": "Priority 1 — Focus on the economic fundamentals", "content": "- Policy mix recommendation: use a tailored mix of monetary, fiscal, and structural policies to consolidate the recovery and raise growth prospects.\n- Monetary policy: manage a smooth normalization of monetary policy.\n- Fiscal strategy: implement fiscal strategies that reduce high debt without hurting growth and confidence.\n- Financial stability: guard against the build-up of financial vulnerabilities.\n- Structural reform: reforms that lift productivity and potential output; IMF analysis shows labor and product market reforms are more potent during economic upswings.\n- Expected outcomes: more growth, more jobs, more income if the opportunity is not missed." }, { "heading": "Priority 2 — Address excessive inequality head-on", "content": "- Problem statement: excessive inequality hinders growth, erodes trust, and fuels political tensions.\n- Fact: Today the top 1 percent owns about half of the world’s wealth.\n- Policy directions:\n - Investments in people: health, education, life-long learning.\n - Stronger safety nets: more direct support for people and communities adapting to disruptions from technological change, trade, and the legacy of the global financial crisis.\n - Fiscal tools: some advanced economies could raise their top tax rates without slowing growth to provide resources for priority needs or debt reduction.\n - Gender inclusion: eliminate legal impediments and bias in taxation; provide support for greater participation of women in the labor market.\n- Expected effects: increase growth, reduce inequality, and support diversity." }, { "heading": "Priority 3 — Concerns of young people: corruption and climate change", "content": "- Corruption\n - Systemic corruption undermines trust and reduces growth potential.\n - Bribery alone costs more than 1.5 trillion dollars per year, nearly 2 percent of global GDP.\n - Money laundering and terrorist financing are threats to every economy; IMF has provided technical assistance to 120 countries in this area.\n - IMF analysis: moving from high to low perceived corruption levels can increase public investment efficiency by 50 percent—and raise real per capita income by nearly one percentage point.\n - IMF commitment: step up efforts in the fight against corruption and work with all members in an even-handed manner.\n- Climate change\n - Young people list climate change among top concerns.\n - Low-income countries are disproportionately affected.\n - IMF estimate: a 1 degree Celsius increase in a country with an average annual temperature of 25 degrees—such as Bangladesh, Haiti, or Gabon—could reduce per capita GDP by nearly 1.5 percent.\n - Energy pricing: trillions of dollars are being spent on subsidies that drive carbon emissions.\n - IMF projection: global energy subsidies at $5.3 trillion for 2015, or 6.5 percent of GDP.\n - Policy prescription: reduce and eliminate energy subsidies; “to get it right, we need to price it right.”" }, { "heading": "International cooperation and the IMF’s role", "content": "- Collective action: international cooperation is essential to address global challenges (natural disasters, trade restrictions, cybercrime, Sustainable Development Goals).\n- IMF “AIM” objective: an IMF that is more Agile, Integrated, and Member-focused.\n- Recent IMF operations and outputs:\n - Provided support to 16 countries via lending programs for a total of more than US$27 billion, including through the rapid credit facility.\n - Strengthened surveillance, including new analysis on fintech and its impact on financial intermediation and monetary policy.\n - Conducted 127 country consultations with topical analysis (examples: gender analysis in Rwanda; climate change resilience in Seychelles; inclusion and tax reform in the United States).\n - Deployed thousands of missions to help raise public revenue more efficiently, monitor public spending, manage debt, and regulate financial markets.\n - Trained nearly 30,000 individuals through free online economics courses.\n - Provided technical assistance and capacity development funded by more than 40 member countries.\n- Forward agenda:\n - Progress toward the 15th quota and formula review to better represent members (will need members’ help).\n - Offer technical assistance to increase fiscal capacity, analyze macroeconomic implications of technology, and help low-income countries deal with conflicts and natural disasters.\n - New initiative: opened the “iLab” to signal openness to ideas." }, { "heading": "Conclusion and institutional commitments", "content": "- IMF staff: talented and diverse staff representing over 150 nationalities.\n- Core principle: trust—between the IMF and its members and among members—is central to addressing global challenges.\n- Call to action: strengthen the multilateral system that has underpinned the world for more than seven decades through collective effort.\n\nSource: Towards a More Secure Recovery Shared by All — 2017 Annual Meetings Plenary Speech by Christine Lagarde, October 13, 2017.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Christine Lagarde\n- United States and the IMF\n- The IMF and Good Governance -- A Factsheet\n- Technical Assistance -- A Factsheet\n- Speeches\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/bundle-manifest.json)", "Published: October 13, 2017", "Global growth is expected to be stronger this year—3.6 percent.", "Positive momentum is expected to continue into 2018.", "The upswing is broad-based: involving 75 percent of the global economy, as measured by GDP.", "The recovery presents an opportunity to secure and expand growth to those not yet benefiting and to include those at risk of exclusion.", "More than 40 emerging and developing countries—representing about 15 percent of the world’s population—are currently experiencing declining per-capita income.", "Key risks and constraints include geopolitical tensions, political uncertainty, and recent devastating natural disasters.", "Policy mix recommendation: use a tailored mix of monetary, fiscal, and structural policies to consolidate the recovery and raise growth prospects.", "Monetary policy: manage a smooth normalization of monetary policy.", "Fiscal strategy: implement fiscal strategies that reduce high debt without hurting growth and confidence.", "Financial stability: guard against the build-up of financial vulnerabilities.", "Structural reform: reforms that lift productivity and potential output; IMF analysis shows labor and product market reforms are more potent during economic upswings.", "Expected outcomes: more growth, more jobs, more income if the opportunity is not missed.", "Problem statement: excessive inequality hinders growth, erodes trust, and fuels political tensions.", "Fact: Today the top 1 percent owns about half of the world’s wealth.", "Policy directions:", "Expected effects: increase growth, reduce inequality, and support diversity.", "Corruption", "Climate change", "Collective action: international cooperation is essential to address global challenges (natural disasters, trade restrictions, cybercrime, Sustainable Development Goals).", "IMF “AIM” objective: an IMF that is more Agile, Integrated, and Member-focused.", "Recent IMF operations and outputs:", "Forward agenda:", "IMF staff: talented and diverse staff representing over 150 nationalities.", "Core principle: trust—between the IMF and its members and among members—is central to addressing global challenges.", "Call to action: strengthen the multilateral system that has underpinned the world for more than seven decades through collective effort.", "[Christine Lagarde](https://www.imf.org/en/About/senior-officials/Bios/christine-lagarde)", "[United States and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/USA/index.htm)", "[The IMF and Good Governance -- A Factsheet](https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/sheets/2023/the-imf-and-good-governance)", "[Technical Assistance -- A Factsheet](https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/imf-capacity-development)", "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)", "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)", "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)" ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/index.md", "json": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/13/sp101317-md-am-plenary/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-25T21:16:45.007Z" }