International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde is again pushing for the European Central Bank to do more to head off dangerously low inflation in the eurozone. <br /><br />Fearful that deflation will hit output and consumer spending she would like to see stimulus measures.<br /><br />“More monetary easing, including through unconventional measures, is needed in the euro area,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a speech that outlined the Fund’s policy recommendations ahead of its spring meetings in Washington next week.<br /><br />Lagarde sees a mixed picture for the region’s recovery: “In the euro area, a modest recovery is now taking hold, [it is] stronger in the core and still very weak in the south. There are encouraging steps we have seen in the last few months, the establishment of a banking union.”<br /><br />At their monthly meeting on Thursday, ECB policymakers are not expected to announce any new measures to fight weakness in Europe’s economy. <br /><br />In her speech Lagarde also warned the recovery from the global financial crisis remains weak.<br /><br />“In 2013, global growth was about 3 percent; we project modest improvements in 2014 and 2015, although still remaining below past trends,” Lagarde said at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.<br /><br />“The risk is that without sufficient policy ambition, the world could fall into a medium-term low-growth trap,” she added.<br /><br />As well as slow price growth in the eurozone, she cited geopolitical tensions in places like Ukraine, and market volatility as factors that could drag on growth in the short-term.
