IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard delivered comments along with the cut in global growth forecasts. He said a depreciation in the euro would be a good thing — for Germany and Holland.
Some people say a euro depreciation would help Europe a lot. I think there is an argument for it, even in a multilateral context. You have to depreciate vis-a-vis somebody, so somebody has to appreciate. My sense is we would like most of the depreciation to be vis-a-vis emerging-market countries. Even if there was a depreciation vis-a-vis the dollar, I still think it would be a good thing. In a way Europe needs it more than the U.S., and the U.S. could probably offset it in some way. So that is something which should be considered… Unfortunately the countries that benefit the most are the countries that really don’t need it — Germany, the Netherlands. The countries that benefit the least are Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain.
