Lagarde says no country immune from rising risk

The world economic outlook is "quite gloomy" and will require action by all countries, starting with those in Europe, to head off an escalating crisis that carries risks of a global depression, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
"The world economic outlook at the moment is not particularly rosy. It is quite gloomy," IMF head Christine Lagarde said at the US State Department. "There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating," Lagarde said.
"It is not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action. It is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions, all categories of countries actually taking action." Lagarde noted some relative economic bright spots in the countries of Asia and Latin America, which she said had taken, with IMF help, steps during crises in the 1980s and 1990s to address weaknesses in their banking systems and financial regulatory frameworks.
"All those challenges that they faced in the days of the Asian crisis, of the Latin American crisis have now served them well," Lagarde said. She said global economic leaders now needed to take a holistic approach toward addressing systemic weaknesses, such as those underscored by the current eurozone debt crisis.