Christine Lagarde featured amongst the keynote speakers at Global Women’s Forum Dubai 2016, which took place last week in Dubai. Lagarde praised the pivotal role assumed by Gulf women in sustaining regional economies. She highlighted Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak’s efforts toward supporting Emirati women in all fields, and her national and international child-mother care initiatives.
Lagarde added that global economy is currently facing a slow growth rate, except that women’s contribution would give a strong push for the economy in the future. She said that general growth rates were 3.1 per cent last year -with expectations to grow slightly higher this year- and even higher in 2017. She mentioned that such witnessed slow growth might insure US, Europe and Japan’s rapid economic revival. She pointed out that comparing current growth rates to rates that could actually be achieved show that growth is lower than what it should be, adding that emerging economies -excluding India- are slowing down.
Lagarde said that this slowdown in emerging economies is intentional; while countries like Russia, Brazil, and South Africa find themselves in fragile situations. “These countries suffer; Russia and Brazil will be in the negative zone by next year” Lagarde said, in reference to the inflation those countries might suffer.
She stressed the significance of coordination between leading women figures to develop working environments and increase women contributions.
One of the most influential female leaders of our time, Christine Lagarde began her career as a lawyer at the international law firm, Baker & McKenzie. Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and later Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004. She joined the French government in 2005 as the Minister of Foreign Trade, and became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G-7 country in 2007. In 2011, Lagarde became the first woman to assume the role of Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organisation of 188 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
Ranking sixth on the latest Forbes list of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”, Lagarde has been a strong supporter of the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society and has taken part in remarkable Women’s Forum meetings in France and in Myanmar. Lagarde has championed efforts to increase the participation of women in the workforce as means of reducing poverty and inequality. In a recent interview, she urged governments’ implementation of policies to improve women’s education levels, pointing to recent IMF data -which demonstrates how countries can increase GDP as a direct result of allowing young females access to education.
Lagarde warned that China’s slowest growth in 25 years and capital flows turning away from it pose threats to global economy. In her opening speech in a G20 meeting, Lagarde projected that China’s economy will grow by 6.3 per cent in 2016. She called on G20 and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to enhance reforms for a more sustained economic growth to face slower trade and investment movement.
