The multilateral consultation process, which involved five large economies in the context of the IMF in 2006–08 – in which both China and the euro area participated – pointed to the risk produced by growing imbalances and tried to focus the attention of policy-makers on longerterm policies necessary for achieving sustainable and balanced growth.
However, little attention was given to these recommendations because there was no sense of urgency. The respective economies were still growing and there were no signs of crisis. The same applies today: as the world is gradually recovering from the crisis, the focus seems to have turned again towards very short-term targets related to growth and employment, but with little consideration paid to sustainability.