FINANCIAL TIMES: The US fiscal stimulus package agreed late last year and the Federal Reserve’s autumn decision to restart quantitative easing have significantly improved the outlook for growth, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Increasing its forecast for US 2011 growth by 0.7 percentage points to 3 per cent, the fund credited the tax-cutting deal between President Barack Obama and the outgoing Congress, which also extended unemployment insurance.
But the new stimulus sows the seed of a longer-term crisis in the US public finances, the fund warned on the day the president will address the issue in his second State of the Union address to Congress. … (more)
