IMF Warns Countries Are "Playing With Fire"

Guardian reports:

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are "playing with fire" by failing to resolve their debt disputes, the International Monetary Fund warned as it trimmed its forecast for world economic growth.

In its latest assessment of the global economy, the IMF said that the risks to recovery have increased in recent months. It criticised the lack of political leadership shown in recent months over the Greek crisis, and the stalemate between the US government and its opponents on whether to raise America's debt ceiling.

José Viñals, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department, said that the world has entered the "political phase" of a crisis that began with the credit crunch nearly four years ago.

"You cannot afford to have a world economy where these important decisions are postponed, because you're really playing with fire," he said.