The world economy continues to struggle to pick up speed. The International Monetary Fund recommends stimulus – or maybe austerity.

In the U.K., the official lender is tired of what it sees as austerity. Olivier Blanchard, the fund’s chief economist, calls for “a reassessment of fiscal policy.” But in Japan, the fund warns that aggressive new stimulus “carries important risks” and calls, ironically enough, for precisely what the U.K. has, a “medium-term fiscal consolidation plan”.