World Bank: Now is the time to prepare for the next crisis

Economies around the globe need to shore up their fiscal positions now following an improvement in growth rates, and before the next crisis hits home, the World Bank has warned.

In its latest update, the organisation warned years of loose monetary policy - albeit needed to help the global economy heal from the 2008 financial crisis - had left many economies with much weaker balance sheets. The great shift of debt from corporates to governments seen during the peak of the crisis has allowed many companies to thrive since, with stock markets doing well and many now at record highs. However, the World Bank said this had come at the expense of national budgets, and it urged countries to tighten fiscal policy as soon as possible in order to give economies breathin...