The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, welcomed, on Sunday 26 July, European leaders agreement on the recovery package.
“We applaud European leaders for their determination to reach an agreement on the €750 billion recovery package. This package will deliver a macroeconomically significant stimulus to help get EU members’ economies back on track”, she explained in an interview with the Greek daily Ekathimerini, adding that it was also a “historic expression of solidarity” between Member States.
According to Ms Georgieva, the €750 billion package will account for around 5.5% of EU27 GDP (2019 level).
However, the IMF Managing Director considered it “vital” to provide “strong incentives” to encourage essential structural reforms. “Prudent fiscal policies should also be pursued where performance has lagged over time”, she added.
Ms Georgieva also came back on the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis. She recalled that the IMF was forecasting a decline in real GDP of around 10% in Europe's advanced economies and around 6% in the continent's emerging economies for 2020. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)