IMF: Europe Needs Further Steps To Repair Financial Sector.

"Europe's financial sector needs further efforts to restore confidence and ensure the region's economy recovers, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. The IMF, which expects the EU economy to shrink 4 percent this year, says the banks in the 27-nation bloc need continued liquidity provision and 'credible loss recognition.' Concern is growing that European banks aren't doing enough to bolster their finances...." [Dow Jones/Factiva]

FT adds that "...publishing the European Region Economic Outlook on the crisis in Europe, the IMF made clear that key European institutions have been found wanting in their hour of need, leaving national policymakers to co-ordinate policies to stem the recession. 'We need more Europe and not less Europe,' said IMF Director for Europe Marek Belka. 'Europe is the most economically integrated market economy in the world and yet the policies to address the crisis have been undertaken at a national level.'..." [Financial Times/Factiva]

AFP writes that "...Belka also suggested the European Central Bank, which has taken its key rate to a record low of 1.0 percent, had scope to go even further, but stressed that other non-conventional monetary measures were becoming more important. 'Macroeconomic policies will need to continue to support demand while keeping an eye on the medium and longer run,' the IMF report said.... It said Europe's emerging economies would shrink by 4.9 percent in 2009 but that a recovery in this zone in 2010 would be slightly stronger than in Europe's advanced economies...." [Agence France Presse/Factiva]