An interesting little snippet ...
You'll remember that over the weekend the G20 rejected free trade and embraced protectionism. OK,. I exaggerate. What they did was drop a decade-old pledge to "resist all forms of protectionism". And instead replaced it with a pledge to "strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies".
IMF spokesman Gerry Rice viewed the change thus:
- "The way I looked at the communique, I think we saw actually G20 consensus revolving around improving, not abandoning, the architecture of free trade"
Huh?
He didn't go full developmentally challenged though, hedging:
- We should avoid policies that would seriously undermine trade and openness and productivity," Rice said, adding that the IMF views open trade and productivity growth as helping to boost incomes and living standards.
