G20 should talk about inclusiveness of growth: IMF's Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund speaks at the High-level Tax Symposium held in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, July 23, 2016. [Photo/IC]

The upcoming G20 summit of the world's leading economies will be orderly and disciplined, said Christine Lagarde, managing director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a recent interview with China Central Television (CCTV).

Lagarde said most of the objectives that had been set out from the beginning have already been achieved.

"There is always substantial progress when people talk with each other and there's clearly a good spirit of cooperation between the finance ministers, governors of central banks and the international financial institutions," she said.

The theme of the summit is "building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy."

Lagarde said: "For the last six years, the G20 has been talking about strong, sustainable and balanced growth. We know these words by heart. Well, with China holding the presidency, we have included a fourth characterization, which is inclusive."

She said it is extremely important to talk about the inclusiveness of growth and regarded it as a significant shift in the G20, even at finance ministers' level.

"It is only a simple word, but by that we mean making sure that everybody benefits, making sure that small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs have access to financing, understand the tax and the environment in which they operate in," she said.

In response to anti-globalization voices emerging after events like Brexit, Lagarde said we cannot today throw away the benefits of globalization because some people have lost out.

"We need to shift the focus to those people who have lost or who are at the risk of losing because of globalization. And we need to make sure that they participate in the process, that they are given access, that they benefit from efforts in education, in health, that there are more opportunities for them as well to join the market, to join jobs, to join universities," she said.

Having high expectation from the G20 summit, Lagarde added that her wish was that more suggestions from international organizations could be adopted by G20 leaders.