IMF calls on US to resolve ‘fiscal cliff’ woes

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), French Christine Lagarde, gestures while speaking during a press conference in Mexico City on November 5, 2012 in the framework of th G20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting. AFP/ YURI CORTEZ

MEXICO CITY – IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Monday called on the United States to “address quickly” the budget mess facing the government, no matter who wins this week’s presidential election.

“The US leadership needs to address quickly the so-called ‘fiscal cliff,'” Lagarde said at the end of a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Mexico City.

Lagarde said there were “clearly factors of uncertainty not only for the US economy, but also for the global economy, given the size of the US economy.”

“Whoever is going to be elected or re-elected tomorrow will be faced with that challenge,” the IMF managing director said.

Warnings are mounting about the dangers of the US fiscal cliff – a mandated sharp cut in government spending and the end to a package of tax breaks expected to suck half a trillion dollars out of the economy next year.

At the meeting in Mexico City, the world’s leading economies pressed the United States and Europe to swiftly resolve their fiscal challenges, warning that they threaten to harm global growth.