Lee Goggin explains with professional advice why recent comments from the head of the IMF underscore why investors need help in uncertain times.
The warning shot!
Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, recently warned that the global economy risks sinking into an era of mediocre growth that could derail the recovery and endanger efforts to reduce unemployment.
Her words were strong, but one wonders if individual investors have sufficiently taken them on board if they aren’t getting professional advice.
Ms Lagarde said that six years after the financial crisis, countries are still dealing with high debts and mass unemployment, despite efforts by central banks to boost growth with low interest rates. “Overall the global economy is weaker than we had envisaged even six months ago,” she said in a recent speech in Washington.” Only a modest pickup is foreseen for 2015, as the outlook for potential growth has been pared down.
She further warned that a slowdown in emerging markets and troubles in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, meant low global growth could persist “for a long time”. Meanwhile, the risk of a prolonged slowdown in the Eurozone, where unemployment is running at 25% in Greece and Spain, is particularly high, she said.
Such comments from the highly-respected Ms Lagarde helped cast a sombre mood over markets; the recent small correction in global equity markets is perhaps a foretaste of further declines.
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When things look uncertain and confusing it’s crucial you have the right professionals helping you to look after your money.
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