By Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department and Fabio M. Natalucci, Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department
The pace of global economic activity remains weak, and financial markets expect rates to stay lower for longer than anticipated in early 2019. Financial conditions have eased even more, helping contain downside risks and support the global economy in the near term. But loose financial conditions come at a cost: they encourage investors to take more chances in a quest for higher returns, so risks to financial