Reply #62: Speed up bird flu plans, warns IMF

[54anickel]

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3511...

Some countries have still not drawn up plans to cope with the "significant damage" to their economies that a bird flu pandemic would cause, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday.

The IMF, a leading global financial watchdog, said a pandemic would trigger sharp asset-price falls, a slump in tourism and trade and lead to mass absenteeism from work.

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The IMF said business continuity planning would become a critical component in preventing a crisis in the financial sector.

"However, in many countries, business continuity planning has not yet addressed the specific risks arising from a pandemic, particularly from possible high absenteeism," it said. "Perhaps because an avian flu pandemic may appear to be a low-probability event, many countries are only starting to develop a comprehensive approach to this threat."

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It urged central banks to ensure there was adequate supply of cash in the economy while regulators should refrain from enforcing capital-adequacy rules that would be broken as asset prices plunged. "Market operations could become more disorderly in the case of a breakdown in the trading infrastructure, leading to limited or intermittent trading," it said.

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Nothing like pushing to line Rummy's pockets while at the same time tossing out the usual financial rules by authorizing the printing presses to run full-bore.