IMF: 'We're not passionate about austerity'

24 January 2013 Last updated at 04:22 ET Help

Olivier Blanchard, chief economist at the IMF, says that the British government should use the March budget to reassess its austerity programme.

He told Today programme's Simon Jack that the budget would be "a good time to take stock and see whether some adjustments should be made... Slower fiscal consolidation in some form may well be appropriate."

Last year the IMF warned that the government should reassess its plans if the economy did not improve by the new year.

This item was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, broadcast on Thursday 24 January 2013.

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