Global economic conditions better now: IMF chief

Amid persisting European debt turmoil, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday the global economic situation is better than it was three months ago.

"The situation is not as grave as it was three months ago. . . (The global economy) is further away from the abyss," Lagarde said.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, on a two-day visit in New Delhi, was speaking at a conference on growth aspects of Indian and Chinese economies.

According to Lagarde, many initiatives have happened in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"On European front, lot of things we have seen have been because of the crisis. . . we saw devolution and integrated fiscal consolidation (among others). Crisis can be a major game changer," she noted.

Lagarde said that the global financial crisis has presented many lessons.

"We learnt that there is a very strong inter-connection between economies and everybody has been affected by the crisis. We also understood that financial sector and financial institutions were high contagious agents during the crisis," she pointed out.

IMF has been playing a key role in stabilising the world economy, especially in providing financial assistance for the debt-laden Greece -- the epicentre of European debt crisis.

A few days back, the IMF board approved loan worth Euro 28 billion to Greece.

The IMF chief's visit to India, after spending two days in China, comes against the backdrop of the multilateral agency looking to boost its financial resources.

On Sunday, Lagarde had said that after years of difficulties in wake of global crisis, financial market conditions are more comfortable and recent economic indicators are beginning to look a little more upbeat.

". . . the world economy has stepped back from the brink and we have cause to be more optimistic," she had said in Beijing.

Image: Christine Lagarde