Alemania también necesita reformas estructurales

FINANCIAL TIMES.- How’s that for a taste of your own medicine.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has called on Germany to do more to remedy its persistent trade surplus with the rest of the world, telling the country to swallow its own mantra on implementing structural reforms.

Speaking at the Norwegian central bank in Oslo, Ms Lagarde warned an unbalanced global economy was struggling to deal with the dual shocks of a Chinese slowdown and the collapse in oil prices, writes Mehreen Khan.

In particular, she urged Europe’s largest economy to use its healthy public finances to boost spending and carry out major reforms to open up closed sectors such as services.

This would boost German growth and shift the exporting powerhouse’s reliance on manufacturing which has helped its current account surplus hit a record 8 per cent of GDP.

Increasing competition in closed industries and freeing up labour markets has been been a key plank of economic reforms Germany has championed for its fellow member states such as Greece.

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