By Ian Sanders
Below are key quotes from the session The Global Economic Outlook at Davos 2015. You can watch the session in full here.
The session asked: What should be at the top of the agenda for the global economy in the year ahead?
“We can’t do everything for Europe. We all have a job to do. We’ve done our part… others need to do their part. There’s nothing we can do at the ECB that can lift the growth rate of Europe in a lasting way – that’s about productivity, that’s about having the right business environment, that’s about having people who want to invest. We can make it cheaper to invest but people have to want to invest: that is the role of finance ministers, that is the role of governments.”
Benoît Coeuré, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
“We’re well aware… that in an environment of low interest rates and quantitative easing there can be excessive risk taking.”
Mark J. Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
“The best way not to increase inequalities is to have good policies to support the poorest and to create jobs at the lower end of the wage ladder, at the lower end of the skills ladder. That is about making labour markets work better.”
Benoît Coeuré
“One of the biggest distributional issues is the risk that people are unemployed for too long, they become detached from the labour market, they lose their skills. In the UK where we’ve created over 600,00 jobs in the last year… we’re winning that race… but there are other profound policy issues that are necessary to make a real difference.”
Mark J. Carney
“The key objective is to create the space for structural reform and for investments for growth… It’s not easy but a great challenge calls on great leaders. These are the moments. Either history chooses the leader or the leader changes the history.”
Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
“Structural reforms, deregulations… are very important in the long term and they will have significant impact for growth potential, but by nature it takes time so I hope people are more patient.”
Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan
“In Europe being patient is a risk we don’t want to take. We need growth in Europe, we need sustainable growth that also has to be within the politics of the European project. We are seeing the whole political foundation of Europe weakened…this cannot last for too long.”
Benoît Coeuré
“The final impact on the potential growth rate will take time. We should be patient for the final impact, but action should be taken as quickly as possible.”
Haruhiko Kuroda
“In Brazil we have had a lot of job creation in the last few years, one of the lowest unemployment rates, the lowest incomes have been rising, in the last years there’s been a lot of inclusion, so our experience is somewhat different [to other economies].”
Joaquim Levy, Minister of Finance for Brazil
“To get investment going you need confidence, you need less uncertainty.”
Joaquim Levy
“People will remember this as the year emerging markets take half the global GDP.”
Min Zhu
“I think the US economy is leading global economic growth. The economic growth in the US is much more broadly based than before. So I have full confidence in the US economy’s growth.”
Haruhiko Kuroda
“We want to be sure that international capital markets work. And for that we need an adequate degree of coordination . So we need to fight the temptation of ring-fencing and financial protectionism.”
Benoît Coeuré
“The US economy growing is good, it’s good for Brazil, and for several other countries, with the demand it creates.”
Joaquim Levy
“In the UK we have a very low inflation environment right now, largely caused by commodity prices. We have a responsibility, we have the means and the will, to return inflation back within the two year horizon.”
Mark J. Carney
“In terms of financial stability policy and the change in banking that is imminent, we have to get the balance of regulation right… to not come down too hard on preventing disruptive technology.”
Mark J. Carney
“There are many ways in which technology will reshape monetary policy as it reshapes our daily lives. The whole question is how can it be reshaped in a way that is not disrupted, because we need monetary policy to protect confidence.”
Benoît Coeuré
“Technology imposes a huge question on global governance issues. It’s not all clear… how do we work together with modern technologies, that’s a big challenge to face.”
Min Zhu
All opinions expressed are those of the author. The World Economic Forum Blog is an independent and neutral platform dedicated to generating debate around the key topics that shape global, regional and industry agendas.
