The International Monetary Fund has become unusually keen for governments to spend more, contrary to its reputation for preaching austerity
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
The International Monetary Fund has become unusually keen for governments to spend more, contrary to its reputation for preaching austerity. In a speech in France last week, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde urged governments to take advantage of low interest rates to invest. Lagarde highlighted a 20% shortfall in global investment spending in the aftermath of recent financial crises as the reason to raise spending commitments. Where fiscal constraints are more evident, investment could be fostered by reducing regulatory burdens, she said. Done properly, the resulting increase in GDP could possibly offset the rise in public debt, minimising the fiscal risks. In emerging market economies, reducing all capital spending inefficiencies by 2030 would provide the same boost to the capital stock as increasing government investment by five percentage points of GDP (or 14 percentage points in low income countries), according to the IMF head.
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John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business strategist and investment market professional for over 30 years after starting his career as a Commonwealth Treasury economist in Canberra. Since being Australia's top-rated commodities analyst and chief economist at one of Australia' leading stockbroking firms, he has advised companies across the mining, consumer products, IT and biotech sectors on their equity market relations. He leads the firm's investment evaluation and security structuring activities on behalf of the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB), the world's first equity 'crowdfunding' investment platform. John Robertson discusses the interaction of mining and investment markets in his weekly 'From the Capital' column in Mining Journal.
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
Expertise
No areas of expertise
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
Expertise
No areas of expertise
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