HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi yesterday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde on the sidelines of the 2017 spring meetings of IMF and the World Bank Group, which took place in Washington DC.
The meeting reviewed the latest global and regional economic developments as well as the IMF’s recently issued report on Article 4 consultations on Qatar, in which the IMF stressed Qatar’s good standing that enables it to tackle macroeconomic challenges that resulted from continued drop in oil and gas prices, thanks to its large financial reserves.
HE al-Emadi also met US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, with talks touching on bilateral relations between Qatar and the US, including cooperation in economy, commerce and civil aviation.
Additionally, HE the minister met US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and discussed with him cooperation in the financial field and means of activating the outcomes of the second session of economic and investment dialogue between Qatar and the United States, which was held in Doha in November 2016, particularly regarding Qatari investments in the US real estate sector and cooperation in the field of taxes.
Qatar Central Bank deputy governor Sheikh Fahad bin Faisal al-Thani also attended the meeting.
Qatar participated, with a delegation led by HE the minister of finance, in the 2017 spring meetings of IMF and the World Bank Group, which took place over the past two days in the presence of ministers of finance, central bank governors and senior officials of member states, in addition to board chairpersons of global banks and representatives of the private sector and academics.
The meetings focused on the horizons of global economy and achieving economic development and financial stability through a number of committees such as the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Joint Ministerial Committee. The International Monetary and Financial Committee discussed issues of the global economy and the financial and monetary stability, highlighting that the level of recovery in global economy has become more positive as risks facing the global economy decline. However, it warned that growth rates in global economy remain at low levels and might continue that trend for a long period due to the high levels of debt, the weak productivity and discrepancy in the economic performance of advanced, nascent and developing economies.