IMF chief economist: higher rates offset by positive U.S. spillovers

International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath said on Tuesday that a stronger growth outlook in the United States has pushed up borrowing costs for emerging markets, though this has been offset by positive spillovers in many cases.

Gopinath told a Peterson Institute for International Economics event that the better outlook is increasing demand for exports from many countries and has pushed down emerging market currency values. She said it was positive that the Federal Reserve was maintaining an accommodative monetary policy stance.

"So far there is more good than bad," she said of the spillover effects for emerging markets.