UK Fiscal Mess Becomes Butt of Jokes During Week of IMF Meetings
- Brazil central banker compares UK to emerging-market economy
- ECB official makes comment during panel with BOE’s Bailey
Andrew Bailey looks through paperwork during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, DC, on Oct. 14.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Finance chiefs and central bankers meeting in Washington this week with clouds darkening over the global economy found a common way to let off some steam: joking about the disorder in UK markets and politics.
And they weren’t even doing it behind the Brits’ backs. In the case of Dutch central banker Klaas Knot, he made a pointed comment while sitting on the dais just feet away from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.