What is IMF’s watchdog’s criticism?

The International Monetary Fund’s own watchdog has criticized the agency saying it called off austerity too soon after the financial crisis. A new report from the IMF’s independent valuation office says the advice was less effective in promoting recovery and was detrimental to emerging markets. The report says that much of the research including the IMPs own suggested that government tax and spending policies are particularly effective following a financial crisis. Instead the IMF advised using interest rates and the policy on its quantitative easing which, the report argues, were less likely to work.

At least 40 people remain missing, and presumed dead, after an unexpected blizzard struck a popular Himalayan trekking route last week. Nepalese search teams, travelling by helicopter, continue to scan high-altitude areas in what is gradually turning from a rescue to a recovery operation. At least 39 hikers are confirmed dead, among them Canadians, Indians, Israehs, Slovaks and Poles, but mostly Nepalese porters. Many of the hikers were on Nepal’s popular An-napurna trail where the storm produced avalanches.