Boarding a flight from London to Washington, DC, in October for his first International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings as the UK's chancellor of the exchequer, a position he assumed in late spring, George Osborne appeared relaxed. And at the next morning's press briefing, he came off as confident, bordering on breezy, possibly because matters of the international political economy could hardly be any more vexing than the domestic ones he is facing as wielder of the axe in the governing Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition's drive to slash the UK's massive budget deficit.
Kicking off proceedings at his briefing by outlining the UK's line on the big questions that dominated the global gathering, Mr Osborne started with global imbalances. "The big theme here is already apparent, of course, and that is global growth and global rebalancing, and I would argue that the UK is playing its part dealing with its own imbalances and seeking to promote exports. Clearly, this is a role not just for the IMF but also for the G-20. What we want is all countries to play their part in addressing that rebalancing," he says.
