What is IMF’s watchdog’s criticism?

The International Monetary Fund’s own watchdog has criticized the agency saying it called off austerity too soon after the financial crisis. A new report from the IMF’s independent valuation office says the advice was less effective in promoting recovery and was detrimental to emerging markets. The report says that much of the research including the IMPs own suggested that government tax and spending policies are particularly effective following a financial crisis. Instead the IMF advised using interest rates and the policy on its quantitative easing which, the report argues, were less likely to work.

Two Ukrainian pro-European parties are in the lead after a parliamentary election on Sunday. With more than 65 percent of the votes counted, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission says Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Popular Front is in first place, with nearly 22 percent of the votes. A political bloc headed by the prime minister’s ally, President Petro Poroshenko, was a close second, with 21 percent. A third pro-Western party called Self Help was in third place with about 11 percent, while the Opposition Bloc party of Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych was fourth with almost 10 percent.