World Economy 'in a Dangerous Situation:' Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, said Sunday that the world economy was in peril and that Europeans should speak as one on the debt crisis, in the wake of a summit agreement that she found wanting in specifics.

Reuters reported that Lagarde, speaking in an interview in the French publication Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, was not impressed with the agreement reached at a summit meeting by European Union leaders to resolve the debt crisis. The crisis itself she termed “a crisis of confidence in public debt and in the solidity of the financial system,” and went on to say, “The Dec. 9 summit wasn’t detailed enough on financial terms and too complicated on fundamental principles.”

Warning that, “The world economy is in a dangerous situation,” Lagarde added, “It would be useful for Europeans to speak with a single voice and announce a simple and detailed timetable. Investors are waiting for it. Grand principles don’t impress.”