Wednesday, 13 April 2011

IMF Warns US to Make a 'Down Payment' on Deficit

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The US should make a 'down payment' this year on tackling its budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund has warned, as it emerged that the world's biggest bond investor is shorting the country's bonds.

America will rack up a budget deficit of 10.8pc of gross domestic product this year, the largest of any of the developed economies, the IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report.

In sharp contrast to Britain and much of the rest of Europe, the US has so far delayed any move to cut its budget deficit. Instead, through a combination of extending tax cuts and a second, $600bn round of quantitative easing, Congress and The White House have focused efforts on trying to quicken a recovery that failed to take off last year. » | Richard Blackden, US Business Editor | Wednesday, April 13, 2011