00:00Europe must boost its productivity or risk losing its way of life, said the head of the IMF on Wednesday.
00:08Kristalina Georgieva spoke to Euronews ahead of the release of a new IMF statement on Thursday.
00:15In Europe we enjoy being a lifestyle superpower unless we become more productive.
00:30We may lose this advantage.
00:33I don't want Europe to become the United States of America, but I want productivity in Europe and the functionality of Europe to go up.
00:44The IMF expects Eurozone growth to be 0.8% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026.
00:54It's said that one way to improve output is to make more progress on the single market.
01:00This would support the free movement of goods, services, capital and people between single market nations.
01:08There are no tariffs within Europe, but it doesn't mean there are no barriers in Europe, regulatory and otherwise.
01:19The IMF estimated that the barriers to free movement in the single market are equivalent to a 44% tariff on goods.
01:28For services, the tariff equivalent would be 110%.
01:33The group argued that improving the single market requires lowering regulatory differences between countries.
01:41It has also called for more labour mobility and progress on the capital markets union.
01:45The CMU aims to allow investment to flow seamlessly across member states.
01:51This would make it easier for businesses in one EU state to source funding from another EU state.
01:59In turn, this would support company growth and create jobs.
02:03The IMF said that boosting productivity is key for Europe's resilience as global trade and geopolitical tensions threaten growth.
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02:19In an economy in economies and other countries.
02:23This would be much
02:28as a local agency in another country.
02:32I can
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