Latin America and Caribbean’s Winding Road to Recovery
By Alejandro Werner, Anna Ivanova, and Takuji Komatsuzaki
Latin America and Caribbean economies managed to bounce back from COVID-19’s initial economic devastation earlier in 2020. […]
Chart of the WeekThe Crisis is Not Over, Keep Spending (Wisely)
By Oya Celasun, Lone Christiansen, and Margaux MacDonald
The pandemic-induced economic crisis is set to leave deep scars. Human capital erosion from prolonged high unemployment and school closures, value destruction from bankruptcies, and constraints on future fiscal policy from elevated public debt top the list. […]
Safeguarding Africa’s Food Security in the Age of COVID-19
By Pritha Mitra and Seung Mo Choi
Food security in sub-Saharan Africa is under threat. The ability of many Africans to access sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs has been disrupted by successive natural disasters and epidemics. […]
How the Great Lockdown Saved Lives
By Pragyan Deb, Davide Furceri, Jonathan D. Ostry and Nour Tawk
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
Since the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, the disease has spread to more than 200 countries and territories. In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment, governments worldwide have responded by implementing unprecedented containment and mitigation measures—the Great Lockdown. […]
Illuminating Dark Corners of the Global Economy
This issue of Finance & Development reminds me of a Sufi parable. A woman sees a mystic searching for something outside his door. […]
The Uneven Path Ahead: The Effect of Brexit on Different Sectors in the UK Economy
By Jiaqian Chen
December 4, 2018
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
A UK border agency worker holds a passport: As a member of the European Union, free labor mobility has enabled the UK to hire talent from across the EU (photo: Mac Gregor/Reuters/Newscom)
The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union in March 2019. Our research suggests that all likely Brexit outcomes will entail an economic cost for the UK, and these costs would be unevenly spread across different sectors and regions. […]
Economic Gains from Gender Inclusion: Even Greater than You Thought
By Christine Lagarde and Jonathan D. Ostry
November 28, 2018
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
Raising women’s participation in the workforce can give a bigger boost to growth than previously thought (photo: Ahrens/Steinbach Projekte/fotogloria/Newscom)
Despite some progress, the gaps in labor force participation between men and women remain large. […]
Chart of the Week: Equal Pay Remains a Global Issue
By IMFBlog
August 6, 2018
Versions in عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
The G7 countries, which are committed to the need for closing the gender gap, have a wage gap average of about 16 percentage points (photo: iStock by GettyImages).
In the battle for the parity of the sexes, some countries have made progress in reducing inequality—such as in access to health care, education, and financial services—but worldwide, men still have more economic opportunities than women. […]
Chart of the Week: China’s Thrift, and What to Do About It
February 26, 2018
By IMFBlog
A pedestrian walks in front of a branch of the Postal Savings Bank of China in Nanjing. China’s saving rate is one of the world’s highest (photo: Imagine China/Newscom).
What makes China’s citizens so thrifty, and why does that matter for China and the rest of the world? The country’s saving rate, at 46 percent of GDP, is among the world’s highest. Households account for about half of savings, with corporations and the government making up the rest.
Saving is good, right? Up to a point. But too much saving by individuals can be bad for society. That’s because the flip side of high savings is low consumption and low household welfare. High savings can also fuel excessive investment, resulting in a buildup of debt in China. And because people in China save so much, they buy fewer imported goods than they sell abroad. That contributes to global imbalances, according to a recent IMF paper, China’s High Savings: Drivers, Prospects, and Policies. The country’s authorities are aware of the […]