Above: IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The international community needs a cooperative policy response to economic challenges more than ever before, according to International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

The IMF chief, who was speaking in Japan, said the global economic outlook had become “regrettably, more worrisome” in the past few months.

“There are signs of slowing economic activity across both advanced and emerging economies,” she said.

Lagarde was giving a keynote address at a policy forum in Tokyo.

Many indicators of economic activity, including investment, employment and manufacturing have deteriorated, she said, both in Europe and the United States and in key emerging markets like Brazil, India and China.

But while Lagarde said European leaders had agreed to “significant steps in the right direction” to address the crisis, further progress is still needed.

“This is a global crisis,” she said. “In today’s interconnected world, we can no longer afford to look only at what goes on within our national borders. This crisis does not recognize borders.”