Zoellick: global finance and a flyer's cold

I have just emerged from the World Bank offices in Millbank and an interview with its president, Robert Zoellick. He has a formidable intellect and interesting moustache.

He too had a flyer’s cold. I told him of the benefits of squirting saline water up your nasal passages in the morning and at night. He was grateful.

He says it’s not just the fear of protectionism, but the reality. He told me a number of states – 17 at least – have already enacted protectionist measures.

He said trading levels across the world had suffered the worst fall since the first world war. He wants the IMF to monitor the present fiscal stimuli, to report forcefully every quarter on what effect it’s having, and if it’s not enough then for the G20 to sign up to another burst of stimuli down the line.

He says it’s no more optimistic than he was six months ago and that “if the politicians get it right, they could see growth toward the end of 2009, early 2010.

“But if they make the wrong decisions tomorrow at the G20 summit, the effects could be felt for the next five or six years”.