International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday and discussed the crisis in the euro zone, even as she highlighted the increasing role of the emerging economies.
"We particularly discussed the euro area situation and the role of IMF and importance that emerging market economies have to play within organisation," said Lagarde, who is on a two-day visit to India. She had extensive discussion on the general global economic condition, which is going through another phase of crisis in which the downturn has thickened in some of the European economies.
Ever since she took charge as the managing director of IMF last year after the controversial exit of the former chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Lagarde had been urging some of the major developing countries like China and India to assume more responsibilities in such a global economic condition with more contributions.
Lagarde, who visited China prior to India, would address a round table discussion on ‘Ensuring Strong Growth in the Post-Crisis Global Economy’ tomorrow as part of a seminar on ‘China and India: Sustaining High Quality Growth.’ She is also expected to meet minister of commerce and industry and textiles Anand Sharma. Organised by the IMF, the China Society for Finance and Banking and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, the conference would focus on identifying policies that are key to sustaining strong and inclusive growth over the medium term in India and China.