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Washington: The International Monetary Fund has warned that the world faces the risk of a triple crisis of declining income, environmental damage and social unrest. According to The Guardian, IMF president Christine Lagarde said countries should adopt a more sustainable approach to economic growth. Ahead of the Rio+20 Earth summit, she said the rich should restrain their demands for higher incomes while there are still 200 million people worldwide looking for a job and poverty is on the rise. Lagarde argued for increasing taxes on petrol-guzzling cars as one of the measures to tackle climate change. She said the current economic crisis in Europe and slowing growth worldwide, coupled with the growing threat from climate change and social tensions could wreck the efforts of leaders to chart a more sustainable future. "Over the past four years, we have been mired in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And we are not out of it yet," she said. "In fact, tensions are on the rise again, and financial stability risks have once more moved front and centre. Great uncertainty hangs over global prospects," Lagarde added. She added: "Many countries continue to subsidise polluting energy systems. These subsidies are costly for the budget and costly for the planet. Countries should reduce them. But in doing so, they must protect vulnerable groups by tightly focusing subsidies on products used by poorer people, and by strengthening social safety nets."

World faces risk of triple crisis, warns IMF chief