IMF Asks Countries For “Growth Friendly” Spending

The International Monetary Fund’s steering committee on Saturday called on member countries to boost “growth-friendly” spending and said the Fund should explore new precautionary lending tools to help countries deal with slowing global economic growth. “Downside risks to the global economic outlook have increased since October, raising the possibility of a more generalized slowdown and a sudden pull-back of capital flows,” the International Monetary and Financial Committee said in a statement issued after its meeting here.