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Christine Lagarde speaks during a press conference in Pretoria, South Africa, earlier today. Themba Hadebe/AP
Euro
Lagarde: The euro will survive 2012
The IMF chief says the debt crisis – which has dragged the euro to its lowest for over a year – will not kill the currency this year.
THE IMF’S managing director Christine Lagarde has said the euro will survive 2012, in spite of the challenges faced by the continuing debt crisis.
Speaking to journalists in South Africa, the former French finance minister said the euro was a “young currency – it’s a solid one as well”, divorcing the currency from the problems faced by its economies.
“You have within the zone – not in relation to the currency – serious pressure and issues concerning the sovereign debt, [and] concerning the strength of the banking system, which have to be addressed,” Reuters quotes her as saying.
“But the currency itself is not one that would vanish or disappear in 2012. Not at all.”
Asked simply whether the currency could disappear this year, she said: “I don’t think so.”
The Guardian reported that Lagarde added that the world should be prepared for a recovery that would “not be an easy journey, but one of effort and focus [on] the European crisis and its resolution.”
Clearly we should all be prepared for 2012, but it will not be a walk in the park.
The comments came on a day when the euro fell to its lowest value against the dollar for well over a year, closing the day at $1.2717 – its lowest since September 2010.
Lagarde is visiting Africa as part of her first world tour since taking over at the IMF last year.
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