The head of the
Speaking at a press conference to mark the start of the IMF’s spring meeting in
“Competition is needed. From competition you get productivity growth and innovation. Too much concentration, too much market power in the hands of the few is not helpful to the economy or to the wellbeing of individuals.”
Pressure has been building in the US for antitrust laws to be used to break up some of the biggest companies, with
Lagarde said: “I am not sure breaking up some of the tech titans in this country [the US] or in other countries will be the right answer. It used to be the right answer, but when most of the assets are intangible, how do you break them up? How do you facilitate access and allow market disruptors to operate? I think that is where a lot of new thinking has to be done.”
The IMF is carefully monitoring new digital currencies such as Bitcoin, which it says are prone to fraud and can be used for money laundering. “We have seen a flourishing of cryptocurrencies. There are now more than 100. That has stability implications eventually. We do not think it is systemic at this point in time but regulators and supervisors have to be watchful.”
Lagarde expressed concern at the growing threat of a trade war between the US and
She said the actual impact of the proposed US and Chinese tariffs would be small. “It is more difficult to measure the erosion of confidence. When investors don’t know the terms on which they are trading, they are reluctant to invest. Growth is being driven by more investment and trade, so why damage those engines?”
Although the
Lagarde said the