Article from a reader on IMF Conference on Monetary Policy

Thanks to Bullion Baron for sending us a link to this article. It is a recap from the IMF of a "High Level Conference on Monetary Policy" recently held. Jim Rickards also mentioned this meeting yesterday on his twitter account. 

The purpose of the meeting was "to make out the contours of monetary policy once the economy and the financial system have settled into their post-crisis normal."

The opening comments from Christine Lagarde were “The world is continuing to change. Monetary policy, and central banking, will not go back to what they used to be once the crisis is finally behind us.”

When you read through the article it is mostly about returning back to a more normal environment for Central Banks even though Ms. Lagarde's comments sound like it was about possible major change going forward.

It basically just says expanded monetary policy may be used again if needed, but the preference is to return back to more normal tools. It also said better collaboration is needed between Central Banks to reduce negative spillover impacts when they use expanded monetary policy.

In other news, the Bretton Woods Committed has a May meeting scheduled to "consider the value and changing nature of multilateralism in an age of austerity". Multilateralism is often mentioned these days, but as we saw at the IMF, it seems to fall apart when push comes to shove sometimes.

There seem to always be meetings and talk of change, but actual change seems to move pretty slowly. We'll see if events change the pace later this year.

Here are the details of that upcoming meeting at the World Bank Headquarters:

Bretton Woods Committee Annual Meeting

Date: 

 Wed, May 21, 2014 9:00am - 2:00pm

Location: 

 World Bank Headquarters

Join the Bretton Woods Committee for its 31st Annual Meeting on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the World Bank Headquarters for a dialogue among leaders and experts across business and civil society to consider the value and changing nature of multilateralism in an age of austerity.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank
• Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
• Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz and Chair of the President's Global Development Council
• Bill Rhodes, Senior Advisor and former Senior International Officer for Citigroup

Jack Lew, United States Secretary of the Treasury has been invited to speak.

Due to the anticipated level of interest and limited seating, please register before May 2nd.