IMF wants harsher budget cuts to lower deficit

The IMF has urged Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to cut its budget deficit much more quickly in the budget—the last before the election.

The warning — delivered in its third post-bailout monitoring report published yesterday — implies the IMF wants the Coalition to rein in its budget plans and think more about paying down the national debt.

The IMF also appears to come down on the side of the banks in their dispute with the Government about their need to keep interest rates at relatively high levels.