Mubasher: The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagard, said Brexit would break down UK – EU "long marriage", posing a serious downside to global growth.
The United Kingdom will hold a referendum on 23 June to decide whether it should leave the 28-nation bloc.
“It’s been a long marriage between members of the European Union. It’s my personal hope that it doesn’t break. And like all marriages, good talks can actually help,” she said at the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington.
She also pointed out to concerns threatening global economy, such as China’s slowdown, the effect of falling oil and other commodity prices on emerging markets, and weak productivity growth, saying "there is plenty to worry about…But we are on alert, not alarm.”
Earlier this week, IMF expected a growth in the global economy by 3.2% in 2015, below its 3.4% estimate in January.
Therefore, the managing director called for a "broader and bolder" action to upgrade infrastructure in U.S and Eurozone, to hasten reforms of markets in general, to encourage transparent competition, and to facilitate start-ups as "monetary policy can no longer do the heavy lifting alone,” she said.
