Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Unemployment to Peak in 8-12 Months

As the United States continues to struggle with unemployment, the head of the International Monetary Fund (Dominique Strauss-Kahn) announced yesterday that the world’s unemployment will not peak for at least another eight months. According to Breitbart.com, Strauss-Kahn warned that unemployment rates and economic conditions are not likely to improve as quickly as many economists would like.

"The problem we are going to face in the coming year may be much more important, much more difficult to solve in low-income countries and some emerging countries than in advanced economies," he said.

Compared with advanced countries, where the recession has meant a couple of percentage point changes in purchasing power or unemployment, in low-income countries "it goes to a question of life and death, or starvation," he said.

Strauss-Kahn said the issue of how to fight unemployment was at the top of the agenda of a meeting held by the Development Committee, representing all 186 members of the Washington-based IMF and World Bank. Its decisions largely affect the strategic direction of the World Bank.

Strauss-Kahn called for members to increase the resources of World Bank so it can aid developing and poor countries cope with rising unemployment.

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