The weighted average yield on 10-year euro-area sovereign debt is similar to that in the UK, at close to 1%. And yet, the euro area’s fiscal deficit is half that in the UK. Its structural deficit, according to the IMF, is around one third as large. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that, if the euro zone were a country, fiscal policy would be substantially more supportive. 15 See Blanchard, O. and Milesi-Ferretti, G.M. (2011), ibid. 16 The macro policies included in the IMF’s analysis are fiscal, credit, foreign exchange reserves, the social safety net (proxied by spending on health) and capital controls. For Germany, for example, the IMF estimate that only 0.6pp of the assessed 4.8% excess current account surplus is due to an overly tight domestic policy mix relative to other countries and a further 0.8pp is accounted for by the policy mix being too loose elsewhere. In China, the IMF analysis indicates a tightening of domestic policies is needed, which would increase the current account surplus rather than reduce it. For more detail, see the IMF’s 2016 External Sector Report, available at https://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2016/072716.pdf. 17 See the IMF 2016 External Sector Report, available at https://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2016/072716.pdf. 13  7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  7  Chart 4: Excess current account balances and policy gaps in 2015  Source: IMF July 2016 External Sector Report. Notes: The countries labelled in the chart are China (CN), Germany (DE), Japan (JP), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (US).
In this environment, the UK is running a historically large current account deficit. On the positive side, the deficit is funded in domestic currency and financial reforms have increased the resilience of the UK system, thereby making larger imbalances more sustainable. But the UK’s deficit has also been associated with markedly weak investment and latterly with rapid consumer credit growth. This is not an imbalance that is, as yet, funding its eventual resolution. Moreover, despite the large depreciation around the referendum, the extent to which the UK’s deficit has moved closer to sustainability remains an open question, one whose answer depends crucially on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Most fundamentally, the UK relies on the kindness of strangers at a time when risks to trade, investment, and financial fragmentation have increased. III. Potential Solutions The world economy has been here before. In the 1930s monetary policy was exhausted and fiscal policy was in abeyance. The trap was sealed by a wave of protectionist measures originating in the US and spreading to Europe. As current and capital accounts closed, stagnation ensued. What should be done to prevent history from rhyming? In the simple world of the economist, the prescription is straightforward. Deficit countries should loosen monetary policy and tighten fiscal policy. Surplus countries should do the reverse. roll up its sleeves, it could easily solve this economic Sudoku.